Beijing wants to restore the confidence of baby milk buyers

Beijing wants to

 restore 

the confidence 

of baby milk buyers

THE WORLD | 09/08/2013 

Hongkong limited to two the number of powdered milk boxes that Chinese tourists can get out of its territory. AP / ANDY WONG

Beijing wants to clean up the huge Chinese market of infant milk. Wednesday, August 7, China's planning agency delivered record fines - totaling 688 million yuan (83 million euros) - to price fixing against six infant milk powder manufacturers. These are the highest ever reported for violation of antimonopoly law in the country.

US Abbott and Mead Johnson, Dutch FrieslandCampina, the Dumex brand Danone and Fonterra of New Zealand ... The companies concerned are foreign, except Biostime, a Chinese manufacturer listed in Hong Kong.

Launched in May, the survey of the State Commission for Development and Reform Commission (NRDC) was the minimum prices imposed by these manufacturers to wholesalers and distributors, a practice accused of penalizing consumers.

They are traumatized by the melamine scandal in 2008, a chemical whose fraudulent addition to powdered milk possible to artificially increase the protein content. Six infants died and nearly 300,000 others have kept the legacy. The result: Today, consumers prefer non-Chinese brands.