Baby milk firms told to ‘correct’ prices

Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah has given baby milk manufacturing and importing companies a grace period of two weeks to to re-adjust their prices and has included baby milk products in the list of foods subject to regulations following unreasonable price hikes and attempts to create artificial scarcity.
A 400-gram pack of baby milk must not cost more than SR29 or SR70 per kilo, said the ministry.
The Health and Commerce ministries recently embarked on a study to unveil monopolization strategies adopted by certain companies with huge marketing resources.
The two ministries also decided to sidestep administrative and organizational obstacles in importing baby milk products in order to make the commodity available in abundance.
The Commerce Ministry has been examining market regulation violations within these companies and providing them with steps to be adopted to rectify the situation over the past two weeks.
According to food regulatory regulations addressing scarcity in exceptional situations, penal measures for violations include fines and company closure for anywhere between three days to a month or both.
In addition, violators will incur liability to repay all costs.
Companies found selling products with incorrect weights or found guilty of hoarding such commodities to generate an artificial shortage will also face punitive action.
Meanwhile, companies that violate competition regulations will be liable to pay 10 percent of their total revenue in fines and 20 percent if the offense is repeated.
The ministry and the Competition Council has launched an investigation within large-sized companies to address these price hikes.