The public has recently raised concerns about the various conditions employed by sales outlets when it comes to purchasing milk powder.
You may have noticed that your local grocery store makes you jump through quite a few hoops to get your hands on a 400g milk powder packet. Maybe you have to buy five yoghurt cups before you are eligible for a single packet of milk powder? Or maybe, there’s a minimum price of groceries you must purchase before you are able to purchase a packet of milk powder?
These sales tactics are being utilised all over the island owing to a rampant scarcity of milk powder being supplied by the importers.
Speaking to a number of consumers around the island, many of them shared that their local stores had placed a condition that if you wish to purchase a 400g milk powder packet you must purchase a number of yoghurt cups. Consumers in Dehiwala and Thimibirigasyaya shared that they have encountered these kinds of conditions, with the Wellwatte consumers claiming that some supermarkets require that your total grocery bill must be over Rs.3,000 in order to purchase a milk powder packet.
A number of other consumers shared that they would be happy to comply with some of these conditions, but in their respective areas, there simply isn’t any milk powder to be purchased. “Honestly if I can pay for this yoghurt, or tea, or even sugar in bulk and get access to a packet of milk powder, I will do it, because I need it for my kid who is used to this now. It has been a real problem these past few days,” said a young mother from Negombo, who added that she has been forced to look for alternatives for her child. Another consumer from Negombo shared that a supermarket in the area gives two milk powder packets if you buy goods worth Rs.1,000.
There were a few who looked at the situation from a positive angle, stating that this may be the perfect time to look for alternatives, as according to them, milk powder has no real nutritional value. Therefore, it is better to just look for locally available alternatives like fresh milk. “I think that we should just give up on milk powder entirely and just look at something else, maybe fresh milk. Or, even better, we should just focus all our resources to help our local milk powder production instead of these global corporates, then we can be self-sufficient and won’t have these import problems,” said a consumer from the Nawala area.
On the other side of the situation, we reached out to a number of grocers in these same areas, from Dehiwala, Thimbirigasyaya, and Wellawatte, who shared that they do not currently employ such methods of sales based on conditions, but, if anyone does do so, it is simply because they too have no other choice. One grocer from Wellwatte stated that: “The agency that sells us milk powder has made it so that when we buy milk powder, we have to also buy a certain number of yoghurt cups. So, if we are to have milk powder in stock, we also have to buy the yoghurt and we can’t keep the yoghurt just sitting in the fridge during this pandemic, where there’s no walk-in customers to sell it to – we are simply responding to the situation.”
Another grocer in Bambalapitiya shared that: “Usually, when we order a case of milk powder packets from the supplier, we get 24 packets of milk powder, but this time we barely got nine packets delivered to us, not just imported brands, even other local brands cannot be found at all, we actually don’t have any milk powder in stock anymore.”
Upon contacting the Consumers Affairs Authority (CAA), they simply shared that it is against regulations to place conditions on purchases this way. The CAA refused to comment further, stating that they will be taking necessary action.
It would appear that the conditions will only continue to worsen as a representative from the local diary industries claimed that the industry is currently running under heavy losses, providing that importer prices have risen significantly since March of this year, and despite the importers’ request for a price revision as they cannot currently make profit, a revision has not been made by the Government.
The representative shared that importers are unable to barely break even at this rate, and therefore they are all not in a position to operate fully, which is why they have cut down the quantity.
These sales tactics are being utilised all over the island owing to a rampant scarcity of milk powder being supplied by the importers.
Speaking to a number of consumers around the island, many of them shared that their local stores had placed a condition that if you wish to purchase a 400g milk powder packet you must purchase a number of yoghurt cups. Consumers in Dehiwala and Thimibirigasyaya shared that they have encountered these kinds of conditions, with the Wellwatte consumers claiming that some supermarkets require that your total grocery bill must be over Rs.3,000 in order to purchase a milk powder packet.
A number of other consumers shared that they would be happy to comply with some of these conditions, but in their respective areas, there simply isn’t any milk powder to be purchased. “Honestly if I can pay for this yoghurt, or tea, or even sugar in bulk and get access to a packet of milk powder, I will do it, because I need it for my kid who is used to this now. It has been a real problem these past few days,” said a young mother from Negombo, who added that she has been forced to look for alternatives for her child. Another consumer from Negombo shared that a supermarket in the area gives two milk powder packets if you buy goods worth Rs.1,000.
There were a few who looked at the situation from a positive angle, stating that this may be the perfect time to look for alternatives, as according to them, milk powder has no real nutritional value. Therefore, it is better to just look for locally available alternatives like fresh milk. “I think that we should just give up on milk powder entirely and just look at something else, maybe fresh milk. Or, even better, we should just focus all our resources to help our local milk powder production instead of these global corporates, then we can be self-sufficient and won’t have these import problems,” said a consumer from the Nawala area.
On the other side of the situation, we reached out to a number of grocers in these same areas, from Dehiwala, Thimbirigasyaya, and Wellawatte, who shared that they do not currently employ such methods of sales based on conditions, but, if anyone does do so, it is simply because they too have no other choice. One grocer from Wellwatte stated that: “The agency that sells us milk powder has made it so that when we buy milk powder, we have to also buy a certain number of yoghurt cups. So, if we are to have milk powder in stock, we also have to buy the yoghurt and we can’t keep the yoghurt just sitting in the fridge during this pandemic, where there’s no walk-in customers to sell it to – we are simply responding to the situation.”
Another grocer in Bambalapitiya shared that: “Usually, when we order a case of milk powder packets from the supplier, we get 24 packets of milk powder, but this time we barely got nine packets delivered to us, not just imported brands, even other local brands cannot be found at all, we actually don’t have any milk powder in stock anymore.”
Upon contacting the Consumers Affairs Authority (CAA), they simply shared that it is against regulations to place conditions on purchases this way. The CAA refused to comment further, stating that they will be taking necessary action.
It would appear that the conditions will only continue to worsen as a representative from the local diary industries claimed that the industry is currently running under heavy losses, providing that importer prices have risen significantly since March of this year, and despite the importers’ request for a price revision as they cannot currently make profit, a revision has not been made by the Government.
The representative shared that importers are unable to barely break even at this rate, and therefore they are all not in a position to operate fully, which is why they have cut down the quantity.