Authorities are urgently investigating the massive increase in milk prices.

From February 25th, the market for infant formula will see a fourth price increase since the beginning of the year. The Ministry of Finance stated that it will intensify inspections of these price adjustments at businesses.

According to information from the Ministry of Finance, Frieslandcampina Vietnam Co., Ltd. has declared and plans to adjust the selling prices of 16 lines of milk products for children under 6 years old starting from February 25th. These products bear the brand names Frisolac, Dutch Baby, Gold Vanilla, etc. For example, the price of a 400g box of Frisolac Gold No. 1 will be 255,000 VND/box, while Frisolac Gold No. 2 (400g) will increase to 270,000 VND/box. Dutch Baby Gold No. 1 (400g) will cost 171,000 VND/box...

This is the fourth milk company to notify the Price Management Department of the Ministry of Finance of price adjustments in the last three months.

Milk prices have been rising continuously since the beginning of the year.

Leading the price increase trend is Mead Johnson Nutrition Co., Ltd., with 15 product lines under brands such as Enfamil, Enfagrow, Enfalac, etc., implementing new prices from December 12, 2013. This was followed by Nestle Vietnam Co., Ltd., with its Nan milk brand increasing prices from January 31, and Vinamilk Joint Stock Company, with its children's milk brands such as Alpha and Pedia, increasing prices from February 10.

The Ministry of Finance stated that, according to the price registrations of these companies, the average increase was 5-10%, with some companies like Mead Johnson Nutrition increasing by only 5-7%. When raising prices, the companies all explained the reason as a sharp increase in import prices into Vietnam. From August 1, 2013, the import price increase for Mead Johnson Nutrition was 12.6-12.8%.

In light of this situation, the Price Management Department has requested the Market Management Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to coordinate inspections of price listings, price declarations, and price adjustments for infant formula products for children under 6 years old from the four aforementioned enterprises. Simultaneously, they will review cases where enterprises have adjusted milk prices without declaring them to the state management agency. If violations are discovered, these two agencies will take strict action, collecting the profits obtained from administrative violations in the field of pricing and depositing them into the state budget.

The Ministry of Finance also requested that local Departments of Finance, after receiving and reviewing the price declaration forms of milk production and trading enterprises in their localities, conduct a review of the reasonable and legitimate costs of the enterprises' price adjustments. Reports on the results of the inspection must be sent to the Ministry before March 10th.

According to Vietnam.net