Has the price of formula milk gone up again?

In March 2017, we revealed that the price of formula milk ( baby milk powder) increased by 20.3% to 39.3% from December 2012 to March 2017. 20 months has lapsed, has the price gone up again?

Milk power price for each brand

(a)Fortunately, the answer is no. As can be seen from the three tables below, the price for all brands of formula milk has remained unchanged for the last 20 months.

(b)One manufacturer even rolled out value pack which is priced about 20% cheaper than the same product of different packaging.

Table 1: Price per 100 grams of stage 1 formula milk (SGD)

	Similac	Friso	Nan H.A.	S26	Mamil	Enfamil
March 2017	7.05	6.56	7.45	6.36	6.41	6.66
November 2018	7.05	6.56	7.45	6.36	6.41	6.66

Table 2: Price per 100 grams of stage 2 formula milk (SGD)

	Similac	Friso	Nan H.A.	S26	Mamil	Enfamil
March 2017	6.41	6.11	6.83	5.97	5.63	6.19
November 2018	6.41	6.11	6.83	5.97	5.63	6.19

Table 3: Price per 100 grams of stage 3 formula milk (SGD)

	Similac	Friso	Nan H.A.	S26	Mamil	Enfamil
March 2017	5.29	5.00	6.08	4.93	4.69	5.03
November 2018	5.29	5.00	6.08	4.93	4.69	5.03

New brands in the market

Since March 2017, the government has taken many measures to curb the rising price of formula milk.

One of the measures taken is to streamline its regulations in order to facilitate the entry of more brands of formula milk to the Singapore market.

Four new brands of formula milk have been introduced to the Singapore market since March 2017. All these new brands of formula milk are sold at a cheaper price as compared to the more established brands here.

In May 2017, Einmilk, which is made in Singapore, was introduced to the market.

In July 2017, NTUC launched Australia's Own Diamond.

In August 2017, heng Siong brought Nature One Dairy onto shelves.

Last, in September 2017, NTUC started to sell its own house brand of formula milk Fairprice Gold.

Price of 100 grams of the formula milk of these four brands can be seen below.

Table 4: Price per 100 grams of formula milk (SGD)

Fairprice Gold	Own Diamond	Einmilk	Nature One Dairy
Stage 1	3.22	3.89	4.88	5.00
Stage 2	3.22	3.89	3.75	5.00
Stage 3	3.00	3.61	3.67	4.17

Public Education

To curb the rising price of the formula milk, Health Promotion Board kicked off educational campaigns that aim to help parents make a more informed decision about formula milk.

Some of the key points in these campaigns can be summarized as below:

(a)All brands of formula milk sold in Singapore are able to meet infant's nutritional needs.

(b)Breast milk is best for babies, especially in the first year of life.

(c)Some infant formula companies claim that their particular brands of milk powder are better in improving your baby's intellectual performance, the scientific evidence for these claims is weak.

(d)Children above 12 months of age do not need formula milk.