A Melbourne chemist has been slammed for opening its doors before trading hours to allow large swaths of Asian shoppers to stockpile tins of baby formula.
As stated by some furious residents, the My Chemist store has been secretly opening in the early hours of the morning for months, leaving none for mothers to buy during the day.
It was gathered that the store has 'ramped up' its operations this year, opening early at least three times a week for shoppers to bulk buy the highly sought-after product.
DailyMail says baby formula typically sells for $20 a tin in Australia but can fetch more than triple that in mainland China where they are in much higher demand.
A Melbourne chemist is coming under fire for opening its doors before trading hours to allow large swaths of shoppers (pictured) to stockpile tins of baby formula
One resident, just named as Paul, told the media that he was 'disgusted' to see the groups lining up in front of the My Chemist, on the corner of Elizabeth St and Flinders Lane, in order to snap up all the baby formula
The lucrative 'daigou trade', a network of Chinese shoppers who send Australian products back home, is worth an estimated $850 million.
Footage of the latest sale shows dozens of frenzied shoppers storming into the store and cleaning out the entire stock of baby formula.
The stock was cleaned out before it could be unpacked and stacked on the shelves.
Some shoppers were aware enough to know why the photos were being taken and covered their faces in an attempt to shield their identities.
One resident, named Paul, stated he was 'disgusted' to see the groups lining up in front of the store in the city's CBD in order to snap up all the baby formula.
'As a long-time local resident I am dismayed that businesses are allowing people without children to profiteer at the expense of Australian mothers that do,' he said.
The group of mainly foreign shoppers can be seen in front of the store three times a weekon Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.
A manager working at My Chemist reportedly told The Herald Sun the store had a 'six tin limit' per customer.
Some shoppers were aware enough to know why the photos were being taken and covered their faces in an attempt to shield their identities
Bulk-buying such goods is increasingly controversial as Australian parents complain there is not enough left on shelves for them.
Dozens of photos and videos have emerged showing Chinese shoppers cleaning out entire supermarkets of baby formula tins some in coordinated efforts.
Some filled multiple trolleys, stacked their car boots or ute trays, or waited outside for shops to open so they could get every last tin.
Coles and Woolworths responded by imposing a two-tin limit, but it was easy to get around by going back for repeated transactions or just going to Costco.
There are 80,000 daigouor 'personal shoppers'in Australia, many making upwards of $100,000 a year.
Daigou shoppers resell the products through social media sites such as WeChat and Weibo and through online shopping sites.
One of the major causes is that while baby formula can fetch prices of up to $20 in Australia, they are much higher demand in mainland China, this has lead to dishonest stockpiling of baby formula which then extends to product shortages here