Vietnam's finance ministry has issued a new regulation that, for the first time, requires all imported milk powder products for children under six to have their prices registered with the authorities.
The ministry said the move aims to exert some control over milk prices in Vietnam, which have increased steadily in recent years to an unreasonable level, news website VnExpress reported Sunday.
Under the new regulation, which takes effect on October 1, dairy firms have to register their prices before launching new products or adjusting prices.
Current regulations require only companies with 50 percent state capital to register their prices with the authorities.
As most of the dairy firms in Vietnam are private and foreign-invested companies, they could not be forced to list their prices until now.
Experts and consumers alike have complained that milk prices in Vietnam are too high despite low tax rates.
They said dairy firms spent too much on advertising and sales commissions to compete with each other, and then passed on the burden to end users.
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