Some milk suppliers in Vietnam have pulled products whose prices will be capped under a new regulation from shelves and replaced them with new ones a week before the ceiling prices become effective.
The new products are not subject to the
price cap , which takes effect on June 21, and fetch much more than the pulled products.
Ta Ngoc Nam, based in Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Binh District, said he couldn’t find Enfamil A+1 baby formula for his child at a milk dealer in his town on Thursday.
The seller said the product was no longer available at her store due to short supply.
“Instead, they recommended a new product, which was similar but more expensive,” Nam said.
Enfamil A+1 is among the 25 bestselling baby formula products whose prices will be capped next week under a decision by the Ministry of Finance, which inspected the country’s five largest milk suppliers in April.
The inspected businesses are: Vinamilk, Nestlé Vietnam, Mead Johnson Vietnam, Friesland Campina Vietnam, and 3A Nutrition Vietnam, the authorized distributor of Abbott products in the Southeast Asian country.
Mead Johnson, the distributor of Enfamil and Enfagrow A+ products, announced two new product lines earlier this month, namely Enfamil A+ 360* Brain Plus and Enfagrow A+ 360* Brain Plus, insisting that the new products are not intended to help the companies dodge the price cap.
However, the new products cost some VND50,000 (US$2.36) per 90-gram can more than the old ones.
For instance, while the Enfamil A+1 used to be sold at VND555,000 ($26.18) a can, the new A+ 360* Brain Plus fetches VND605,000 a can.
Nguyen Quoc Chien, head of the sub-department that manages prices under the HCMC Department of Finance, told Tuoi Tre on Friday that some milk distributors have already submitted their price registrations.
“The milk businesses will all submit their registrations in the next few days, and their registered prices will be made public for consumers,” he said.
The finance department will penalize any businesses that breach the price cap regulation after it becomes effective next week, Chien asserted.
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