In a recent report to the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Financesuggested that the Ministry of Health ask the Government to add milkproducts to a list of those whose prices must be controlled.

The Ministry of Finance has worked with the ministries of Health andIndustry and Trade on managing the price of milk. It asked the Ministryof Health, as the State office responsible for managing milk quality andstandards as well as milk products, to review the prices for theseproducts.

The Ministry of Finance said 17 out ofthe total of 18 companies producing, distributing and trading milk forchildren under six years old have already submitted prices for theirproducts to the Price Management Department.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Health's national technicalstandards for milk and nutritional products, currently there are noproducts described as milk-powder products for children under six on themarket. The products are instead described as "additional" or"nutritional" foods and their prices have been not been stabilised underthe existing regulations.

The ministry said therewere many kinds of nutritional products containing milk for childrenunder six. In Vietnam, the ministry has classified these products,according to international standards, into four groups, include milkpowder, nutritional products for children up to one year old,nutritional products considered especially healthy for the same agebracket, and nutritional products for children aged from six months tothree years.

According to existing regulations, theprice of nutritional products is not controlled by any State offices, sothe existing classification of milk products and products containingmilk by the Ministry of Health will not create an opportunity for milkproducers and traders to frequently hike prices of their productscontaining milk.

The Ministry of Health also sent areport to the Prime Minister on the high prices of milk products. Thereports from the ministries of Health and Finance were issued after thePrime Minister last week asked the two ministries to report on high milkprices on the local market.

Because the price ofmilk is not controlled by the Government, dairy companies can increaseprices at any time. Some milk products were listed at 4-5 USD(80,000-100,000 VND) per unit on customs declaration forms, but laterretailed for 400,000-900,000 VND (19-42.5 USD), according to the GeneralCustoms Office.

The Pricing Management Departmentunder the Ministry of Finance said the ministry has investigated theprice of products containing milk because the product was not under itscontrol.-VNA