Melamine- tainted milk powder
News Commentary Worksheet
A. Comprehension
Why did mainland
mothers flock to HK for
imported milk powder?
Who and how were
affected?
Why did milk dealers
add melamine into the
milk?
Mainland mother flood to HK
for imported milk powder
How to make up the shortage of imported milk powder?
Melamine- tainted milk powder/news commentary worksheet/08-09
Page 1
B. Economic Analysis
1.
What economic concepts are involved in the issue? Put a () against all
related concepts and briefly explain how they relate to the issue.
Economic
concepts
A brief description of how these concepts
are related to the issue
(a) Change in
Demand
(
)
(b) Change in
Quantity
Demanded
(
)
(c)
Price
Competition
(
)
(d) Non-Price
Competition
(
)
(e)
Shortage
(
)
(f)
Surplus
(
)
(g) Change in
Supply
(
)
(h) Change in
Quantity
Supplied
(
)
(i)
(
)
Others
2. We have explored many related economics concepts in the previous exercise.
Try to prepare a flow chart which can link-up all the relevant concepts.
Melamine- tainted milk powder/news commentary worksheet/08-09
Page 2
3.
Are there any parts of the news article which are ambiguous in economics
meaning? If yes, please explain.
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
C.
Issue Inquiry
4. (a) Apart from milk powder, what kinds of product were also found to be
contaminated with melamine?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
(b) Many products which containing milk were found to be contaminated
with melamine in food safety tests.
How would this affect the revenue
of the firm? How can they restore consumers’ confidence on their
product?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
Melamine- tainted milk powder/news commentary worksheet/08-09
Page 3
5.
Apart from the restricting each customer to buy a maximum of three cans
of milk-powder. Would you suggest some other methods to allocate the
limited supply of milk-powder? Which method that (i) retailers, (ii) local
customers and (3) customers from the mainland, benefit most?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
6.
According to the article, many mainlander flocks to Hong Kong for imported
milk powder. Meanwhile, many Hong Kong people also transport milk
powder from Hong Kong, then resale in Shenzhen.
Luo Min, who transports milk powder from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, said she
received 100 orders in the three days after the milk powder scandal broke, nearly
three times the usual demand.
South China Morning Post, September 17, 2008
Personal Profile
Personal Profile
Name: Mrs. Fa (花太太)
Name: Lai Kan (黎根)
Age: 45
Occupation: Housewife
Age: 38
Education Level: Primary School graduate
Education Level: Secondary School graduate
Household Income: $12,000 per month
Household Income: $45,000 per month
Place of residence: Fanling
Place of residence: Cheung Chau
Marital status: Married, with 2 kids, both of them are
Marital status: married, with a 2-year-old daughter
Occupation: Coach of windsurfing
studying in a secondary school
Melamine- tainted milk powder/news commentary worksheet/08-09
Page 4
(a) Please read the following personal profile. Which of them is more likely to
be a parallel import dealer (i.e. a person who transport product from HK to
mainland)?
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
(b) By summarizing the above characteristics, can you analyze some economic
reasons why people be a parallel import dealer?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Alternative Assignment:
Please prepare a report to discuss who gain most and lose most in the issue of
contaminated milk powder.
Melamine- tainted milk powder/news commentary worksheet/08-09
Page 5