达能在英国实行奶粉限购 防止大量流向中国

Demand for foreign-made baby milk in China is strong after contaminated baby formula killed six infants in 2008.

Retailers in the UK are rationing sales of powdered baby milk because of a surge in demand in China.

Danone, the manufacturer of Aptamil and Cow and Gate baby milk powder, said most supermarkets were introducing a restriction of two cans per customer.

It said the limit was to prevent some individuals from bulk-buying baby milk for "unofficial exports".

Retailers were also capping sales of Nestle's SMA milk, despite the company saying there were no stock shortages.

Danone said in a statement: "We understand that the increased demand is being fuelled by unofficial exports to China to satisfy the needs of parents who want Western brands for their babies."

Chinese thirst

"We would like to apologise to parents for any inconvenience caused by this limit. We know that most parents only buy one pack at a time, so we hope that the impact of this limit on UK parents will be minimal," it added.

Supermarkets Asda, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons said the purchase of certain brands would be limited to two units per customer per day.

Foreign-made baby formula are popular in China, especially since a locally manufactured formula laced with the industrial chemical melamine killed six infants in 2008 and caused another 300,000 to fall ill.

Earlier this year, shops in Australia were forced to restrict sales of infant formula, as Chinese customers and tourists bought them in bulk to send them home or to sell them online.

Authorities in Hong Kong also introduced restrictions in February to prevent shortages, banning travellers from leaving the territory with more than 1.8 kg (4lb) of formula. Last month, 10 people were arrested there for trying to smuggle more than the allowed amount into Chinese mainland.

Danone said it was taking action to respond to the shortfall in the UK, including increasing production of milk, which means extra supplies of all its brands are arriving every week, according to BBC business correspondent Emma Simpson.

Boosting production

Danone is also increasing production and supplies of its brands that are already available in China, in order to meet demand there.

But it added: "If parents are unable to find their baby's usual brand of milk, we recommend they try another local store or revisit the store on another occasion."

Richard Dodd, head of media and campaigns at the British Retail Consortium, said: "A number of retailers are limiting the amount of baby milk that can be bought by any one customer.

"Retailers are taking this precautionary step to ensure stocks continue to be available to everyone wanting baby milk," he added.

However, Nestle insisted there were no shortages of its formula milk available to retailers.

The company said: "We do not have any evidence of bulk purchase of SMA for export, and we are in the process of contacting all our retail customers to confirm this, and to notify them that we do not have - and do not anticipate - any stock issues for powdered infant milks.

We would like to reassure our consumers that we are not seeking to impose any limits on the sale of our formula, and any decision to do so is at the sole discretion of the retailer. Contrary to reports, Nestle UK has never requested that retailers limit the supply of SMA powdered infant milks sold to consumers."

2008年中国出现问题婴幼儿配方奶粉后，中国市场对国外奶粉的需求量越来越大。由于中国对奶粉的需求快速增长，英国的零售商对奶粉实行限购。

爱他美和牛栏婴儿奶粉的制造商达能集团透露，大多数超市正进行奶粉限售，一位顾客只能买两罐奶粉。该集团称，奶粉限购是为了防止一些人为了非法出口而大量购买奶粉。

零售商也对雀巢的惠氏奶粉设置了销售上限，尽管雀巢公司声称不存在库存短缺的情况。

达能集团曾发表声明说：“我们了解到，非法向中国出口奶粉是为了满足中国父母对西方品牌奶粉的需求，这激起需求量的不断上升。”

中国人的热望

“对于限购给家长们带来的任何不便，我们表示很抱歉。我们知道大多数的父母一次只买一盒奶粉，所以我们希望这次限购对英国父母产生的影响能降到最低。”达能集团补充道。

阿斯达、塞恩斯伯里、乐购以及莫里森等大超市都表示，购买某些品牌的奶粉会限制为每位顾客一天只能买两罐。

国外婴幼儿配方奶粉在中国很受欢迎，尤其2008年以后，当时中国本土生产的某些品牌奶粉被曝光掺有工业化学物质三聚氰胺。

今年早些时候，澳大利亚的商店也限制了婴幼儿配方奶粉的销售数量，原因是来自中国的消费者和旅客们大量购买当地的奶粉，然后把奶粉发往中国或者拿到网上销售。

香港当局也在2013年2月份实行限购，防止出现奶粉短缺的情况，同时携带超过1.8公斤奶粉的游客都将被禁止离开香港本土。三月份，有10人因试图偷运1.8公斤以上奶粉到大陆而遭到逮捕。

据BBC商业通讯记者艾玛-辛普森报道，达能集团表示，该公司会采取一定措施来填补英国的供应短缺现象，其中包括提高奶粉的产量，而这意味着它旗下的品牌产品每周都会有额外的供应。

刺激生产

为了满足中国市场的需求，达能集团同时提高了旗下产品的产量与供应量，并且已经向中国供货。

但该集团也补充道：“如果父母们不能在我们店找到他们的孩子常喝的奶粉，我们建议他们去其他商店购买，或者下次再来购买。”

英国零售协商会的媒体和销售活动负责人理查德•多德说道：“很多零售商在限售一些儿童奶粉数量，以便让每个想买奶粉的人如愿。零售商正在采取未雨绸缪的措施，确保库存供应，使所有希望购买奶粉的人能买得到。”