There have been calls to find an urgent solution to the rising price of powdered milk. Many food outlets and pharmacies have seen a wave of price increases over the last few months, and customers say that the Ministry of Commerce should call for prices to be printed on products to prevent overpricing.
People have no choice but to pay whatever price the drug store or other outlets set. “We have babies; we cannot boycott,” said Abu Omar.
Haytham Yousif supervises a group of pharmacies. He said price hikes have been seen in several baby powder milk brands over the last few years. “The highest increase was seen in S26 brand which increased by SR 18 in one year. Similac’s price increased by SR 15.”
He said the product price must be printed by the authorities who must then monitor the markets and impose penalties on those violating price regulations. “This way prices can be largely controlled,” he said.
Saad Al-Sehli, director of sales at SPIMACO pharmaceutical company’s western sector, said there was an increase in the prices of baby formulas, and distribution companies (who sell the product to outlets) were the ones to blame.
“The government has set price regulations for these companies, but some of them do not abide by the rules,” he said, adding that having the authorities print the prices directly on the product would prevent overpricing.
Pharmacist Mustafa Muhammad said pharmacies bought the products from distributors at increased prices. “Pharmacies buy it at high prices and then have to make a profit,” he said.
Muhammad said he thought that the prices of certain brands, like S26 and Similac, would drop if consumers stopped buying them and switched to alternative brands.
