Singles Day blamed for Aussie baby milk shortage

Dairy products at a supermarket in Xuchang, Henan province. [Geng Guoqing / For China Daily]

Moms in Australia were outraged as the ongoing Singles Day shopping festival increased bulk buying of baby formula in the country, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

A popular baby food producer Bellamy's Organic said the annual Chinese online sales event, which falls on November 11, has triggered more bulk buying of its products and worsened the shortage in the Australian market.

One Sydney mother claimed on social media that she rang every Coles supermarket within 20 km, a Melbourne mother said she scoured the shelves of 15 shops, and a Perth mother said she drove for three hours-all in search of the elusive "white gold", the report said.

Increasingly health-conscious Chinese parents prefer foreign baby formula brands, due to an understandable lack of trust with the quality of domestic brands following a tainted milk scandal which killed six babies in 2008.