Australia Post are cashing in on the baby formula trade, selling direct to China

LIKE it wasn’t hard enough getting your hands on baby formula, now Australia Post is cashing in on the booming trade.

AUSTRALIAN parents are struggling to get their hands on certain baby formula to feed their newborns, now there is outrage over an Australia Post store in Sydney, selling the coveted item among its regular mailing products.

The new Chatswood store has a sign above its main entrance that advertises (in Mandarin) “Direct mail to China,” and an entire wall is fitted with five tiers of shelving completely stocked with the nutritional item.

The new Chatswood Australia Post is stocking baby formula. (TimAus)

Demand for the Australian product has been so high in countries like China, that personal shoppers known as “Daigou” are swarming local supermarkets and completely cleaning out the stock levels to sell online at marked up prices.

News.com.au had previously reported that the Daigou sell baby formula, vitamins, Weet-Bix and other popular Australian products on social media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, and through Alibaba’s online shopping sites Tmall Global and Taobao, sometimes earning up to $100,000 a year for their efforts.

Despite stores like Coles and Woolworths trying to enforce a four-item-limit on sought after brands like Aptamil Gold-plus, the swarms of ruthless Daigou still manage to clear their stocks.

Supermarkets struggle to control Daigou purchases in their stores. Supplied

Jessica Hook, a Brisbane mother, photographed one such incident and was told by supermarket staff that there was a “large Asian population” who were onselling stock. “They’re very conscious of saying, it’s not a racial thing, it’s just always a particular demographic, they come in groups, work as a team and clear the shelves.”

In 2017 a mother from Sydney’s Inner West was so furious about the blatant disregard for her local supermarkets ‘purchase limit’ policy, that she shared video and photos of what she witnessed on Facebook.

The demand for products like Aptamil Gold-plus is so high in China that the company was forced to increase its production by 50 per cent in just three months last year.

For the supermarkets who strictly enforce the limit, the crowds of Asian shoppers reportedly just go through the checkout, then return to buy more tins in a different purchase.

With Australia Post now selling the popular food item, It’s believed the Chatswood store may be capitalising on the strong demand in a suburb with a large Chinese population.

Accordning to a spokesperson from Australia Post, it is a planned “concept store” that is testing customer demand for selected products delivered to China.

“This planned store is not a Post Office. It will sell a limited number of lines, such as health and beauty products, in conjunction with international freight options.”

It’s a limited trial and will only operate in the one location.

A recent census found that over 20 per cent of Chatswood’s population were Chinese by birth.

At this stage the Australia Post in Chatswood appears to be the only one selling the item.