A customer shops for milk powder at a supermarket in HCM City. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — HCM City will continue with its annual price stabilisation programme for dairy products well past the Lunar New Year early next year, according to its Department of Industry and Trade.

To run until March 31, 2022, the programme has the participation of three dairy firms namely Vinamilk, Nutifood and Tân Quang Minh.

Though two firms have quit this year, the remaining three are major players.

According to the department, the programme will stabilise the prices of four groups of products: infant formula, milk powder for pregnant mothers, functional milk powder (for older, sick, underweight, and overweight people and those with diabetes), and nutritional liquid milk with micronutrient supplements (liquid dairy products and drinking yoghurt).

The programme supplies 23.2 tonnes of milk powder and 880,000 litres of liquid milk a month, or 30-35 per cent of the city's demand.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, they have been increased to 26.9 tonnes and 1.114 million litres.

Participating firms must register their prices with the Department of Finance, and if costs increase or decrease by 5-10 per cent, they can adjust the prices accordingly.

If prices fluctuate in the market due to speculation to create an artificial scarcity, they need to supply enough to overcome that based on the advice of the Department of Industry and Trade.

Vinamilk, which has been part of the programme since the first year of the programme, sells nearly 250 products of all kinds, including 50 kinds of liquid milk, meeting almost all consumers' nutritional needs.

Phan Minh Tiên, Vinamilk's marketing executive director, said milk is a key product, and in addition to ensuring quality and high nutritional value of its products, the company also plans to further diversify its liquid milk products to suit customers of all ages and segments and develop high-end lines.

Nutifood said it seeks to strengthen links with domestic and foreign partners to ensure adequate supply of inputs, and raise production and operation to penetrate global markets.

It is also focused on developing over 1,000ha of dairy farms in Gia Lai Province to breed cows that offer high-nutrition fresh milk that can match imported varieties.

According to the Department of Industry and Trade, the participation of enterprises with a commitment to supply the full range of dairy products at fixed prices for a long time is a prerequisite to help markets remain stable, especially those of infant formula and functional milk powder. — VNS