The last Hong Kong baby powder supper
Staff Reporter 2013-03-01 17:57
People carrying cans of baby formula line up at Hong Kong's Lo Wu Control Point. (Photo/CFP)
Long lines of people carrying cans of baby formula showed up on Thursday at Lo Wu Control Point, a customs checkpoint between Hong Kong's North district and Shenzhen's Luohu district, hoping to squeeze through the closing doors of Hong Kong's tighter regulations that started Friday.
The Hong Kong checkpoint, the most heavily-used traffic route between the region and mainland China, was quiet on Thursday until 9pm, when hordes of people with yellow bags from Mannings, a Hong Kong retailer that sells baby and beauty products, lined up outside the gates. Many of them had stuffed 20 cans of baby formula — 12 in the two bags in their hands and more in their bulging backpacks — hoping to cross the border unruffled from Hong Kong into Shenzhen, according to the Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Daily.
The battalion of shoppers came to the call of Hong Kong's new law forbidding citizens or tourists over 16 years of age to leave the region with more than 1.8kg of baby formula for babies up to 36 months old. Offenders could be slapped with a fine of up to US$64,000 and a two-year prison sentence as of March 1.
It usually takes ten minutes to cross the Hong Kong control point. On Thursday, the milk fanatics clogged processing speeds to 50. Customs authorities in Shenzhen gave the border hoppers one last day of cheap infant happiness and did not uphold the lines.
Shenzhen customs said it will coordinate with Hong Kong to monitor the amount of baby formula being carried across the border but will allow people to cross the border with baby products if it is for personal use. The customs office has not determined a specific number, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.
Customs said it will check the times and dates on passports to judge whether a traveler is carrying the products for personal use or for illicit import. If a person is found crossing the border multiple times within a 15-day period, customs will only allow one more passage. Multiple crossings in a day will be prohibited, as well as oversized luggage.
