London Thanasis Gavos

The French company Danone announced that it had agreed to reduce the price of a popular brand of infant formula by 7% in powder which he sells in UK retailers.

The move comes after an investigation by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) found that the price of baby milk powder was unjustifiably increased by at least 25% over two years from spring 2021 onwards.

The price reduction will only apply to baby milk powder Aptamil and not the liquid packaged milk of the same label or the cheaper Cow & Gate brand of the same company.

Danone has a 71% market share of baby milk in the UK and its move is expected to increase pressure on the other big company, Nestlé, to also drop the price of its own similar products.

The CMA survey was carried out in late 2023 amid concerns that baby formula is vulnerable to higher-than-inflationary increases due to limited supply of labels and parents’ reluctance to switch the product they give their babies despite price variations.

The Competition Authority concluded, among other things, that parents spend more on baby milk than necessary because they follow the dosage recommendations that the companies state on the packaging. These were found to be “systematically greater” than the recommendations of the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition.

Supermarket chain Iceland has become the first to announce that the cut in supply costs for Aptamil will be passed on directly to the shelf price.

Last spring a Sky News report revealed the impact inflated baby milk prices were having in Britain.

Parents admitted that they had started stealing packages from shops, that they were looking for baby milk on the black market, that they were reducing the doses they gave their babies, or that they were replacing baby milk with concentrate.

At the same time, relief organizations and food banks had reported a significant increase in the number of parents with infants requesting help with milk and other essential baby items.