Macao has become a bypass option for consumers from the Chinese mainland to purchase milk powder from Hong Kong, Southern Metropolis Daily reported on Wednesday.

According to information from the Hong Kong government, milk powder exports to Macao increased by 78 percent from March 2013 to February 2014, after the government ruled on March 1, 2013, that people leaving Hong Kong for the mainland may only carry 1.8 kg of milk powder with them.

Since then, some 4.59 million kg of milk powder have been sent to Macao from Hong Kong, and most is assumed to have then been sent to the mainland, as the total amount of milk powder sent from Hong Kong to Macao in the past year could feed the babies in Macao for five years.