Australian Milk Powder Sales Hit By Chinese Demand

One of Australia's biggest supermarket chains said on Wednesday that some stores were moving baby formula behind counters and restricting sales as it emerged customers were clearing shelves and selling it online in China for more than double the price.

Coles' decision to take the milk product off aisles follows complaints from worried mothers over supplies and after Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported one kilogram tins bought for up to A$35 (HK$205) were being resold to mainland parents for around A$100.

"Coles is committed to ensuring that our customers with a genuine need for infant formula have access to this product," the supermarket said in a statement.

"To make sure we have formula available for customers, in some stores we are keeping infant formula behind the service desk or using specially designed electronic article surveillance lids that can only be removed at the register."

The supermarket giant is restricting sales to two tins per customer and working with suppliers to improve availability.

Woolworths said it had no plans to remove the product from shelves but has also tightened restrictions to two units per customer.

The influx of traders from across the border into Hong Kong had forced the SAR government to implement a two-tin limit on baby formula in 2013. The restriction is still in force.

Demand for foreign infant milk products has soared following a series of food scares in on the mainland, including a 2008 scandal over locally produced tainted formula that left six children dead and made more than 300,000 ill. (AFP)