The most powerful earthquake in Japan's history has made an impact in Hong Kong, choking off supplies of Japanese food and sparking fears of possible contamination.
A supply crunch and knee-jerk price inflation for Japanese imports such as fruit, rice, dairy products, beef, pork and snacks are looming as key production bases in northeastern and coastal regions such as Miyagi, Iwata and Ibaraki were hard hit by a deadly quake and tsunami on Friday.
Fears of shortages prompted about 300 shoppers to queue up at a pharmacist at Prince Edward in Kowloon yesterday to stock up on Japan-imported baby formula.
Customers were admitted only in groups and were limited to one carton per person.
The General Chamber of Pharmacy chairman, Lau Oi-kwok, said inquiries about Japanese milk formula soared over the weekend, with many parents worried about a cut in supply because of the natural disasters. He said some parents were also worried that the next batch of milk formula would be contaminated by radiation.
Secretary for Food and Health Dr York Chow Yat-ngok urged prudence, saying the Centre for Food Safety had stepped up monitoring Japanese fresh produce, and preliminary radioactive tests of 10 samples had showed no abnormalities.