(Yicai Global) Feb. 27 -- Many airlines have cancelled or scaled back flights to China due to the novel coronavirus epidemic. That has broadsided the operations of agents who supply foreign milk powder to Chinese buyers, leading consumers to switch to overseas suppliers' online stores on major e-commerce platforms.

A Yicai Global survey found that current shipping times for direct mail from overseas is significantly longer or even double what it was previously, forcing some agents to stop taking orders.

"Forwarding agents in Paris now refuse to deliver private parcels, and US agents don't want to accept such parcels either because of serious delays to transport," an agent called Becky told Yicai Global.

She has suspended the business because it has become difficult to send parcels to Beijing from overseas since the epidemic worsened last month.

The direct mail service from Australia to China has resumed but is still slow. The time needed for shipping and customs clearance, which used to take 15 to 20 days, now takes more than a month, according to Zhao Tong, an agent based in Australia. Express deliveries also takes longer, from 4 and 5 days to 8 and 10 days.

The epidemic has impacted buying agents mainly because they must wait in line to deliver orders due to the recent large-scale suspension of flights from overseas to China, leading to a sharp decline in flights and a significant drop in passenger planes' cargo transport capacity, Yicai Global learned.

"The epidemic has had a great impact on milk powder buying agents," said Song Liang, a dairy industry analyst.

The logistics of both overseas direct mail and domestic distribution after bulk purchase takes longer than before, which has prompted consumers to turn to cross-border e-commerce platforms or milk powder imported via regular channels, Song said.

As a result, foreign milk powder sales have been robust on e-commerce platforms. Foreign dairy producers' bonded warehouses always have enough inventory for 30 to 40 days of sales, so the impact of blocked logistics on their China business is relatively small.

Dutch firm Royal FrieslandCampina's Friso stores on JD.com and Tmall have seen a 50 percent rise in milk powder sales, Yang Guochao, its senior vice president for China, told Yicai Global.

Nutricia, under French food multinational Groupe Danone, has seen its milk powder sales grow significantly on e-commerce platforms over the past month, Danone revealed. Danone's self-owned cross-border warehouse in Nansha, Guangzhou province, has resumed operations ahead of schedule to ensure supply and is speeding up coordination with its overseas plants to increase milk powder supply via air transport and other means.

The number of overseas buying agents has been rising since 2008 as consumers pay greater attention to the quality of milk powder and they now take up a large share of infant formula milk sales in China. Danone, for example, reported that around 30 percent of its Chinese sales came from indirect sales channels, namely buying agents such as overseas dealers or individuals, the firm's third-quarter earnings report said.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Peter Thomas