A few weeks ago the SCMP editorial lobbied for a 'New Formula for Milk Formula' (Mar 29, 2013) to address the so-called 'formula shortage' in Hong Kong. The formula crisis was reduced to a violation of the law of demand and supply. Backed by this economic principle, hysterical parents joined the anti-Chinese sects in blaming mainlanders and cross-border traders for causing the milk scarcity. The discourse on infant formula threw the city into a frenzy of Sinophobic rage.
Yet the suppliers of the baby formula did not comment on the shortage until their businesses were imperiled by the two-can export quota. This time, the seven manufacturers pledge a vow on steady supply in concert with the General Chamber of Pharmacy. ('Baby Milk Formula Producers Plan to End Export Restrictions' dated April 26, 2013) I couldn’t help but wonder: where were these people a few months ago? When local mothers were painfully scouting around for your products, where were you? What did you do to sooth your customers?
When the media spotlight is disproportionately put on the demand factor, does anyone ever cast doubt on the business ethics of these suppliers? Shouldn’t the suppliers share some of the responsibilities for causing the social unrest? After all, market equilibrium is a two-way street. When Hong Kong people indulge themselves in trashing mainlanders and the stereotypically corrupted Chinese government, does (has) any self-respected Hong Kong citizen ever reflect(ed) on the corporate greed that is endemic in this city?
In the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ John Steinbeck depicted the gripping scene in which people starved even when the supply of crops was abundant because the growers dumped the crops into the river to keep the price up. Steinbeck held the covetous farmers responsible for causing the plight of the poor and hungry during the Great Depression. In the twenty-first century Hong Kong, are we still experiencing the purposeful destruction or hoarding of milk powder to keep the price high?
It’s time to reflect on who is the real culprit behind this incident. We will return to the dark age where there is a growing wrath among the adults if social justice is not restored.