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Mooncake market attracts few customers despite early start

Mooncake market attracts few customers despite early start

Monday, August 26, 2013, 19:38 GMT+7

Booths selling mooncakes, the traditional delicacy of the mid-autumn festival, have been erected in every corner of Ho Chi Minh City, but customers are hard to come by.

Even though the festival is still a month away, falling on September 19 this year, the mooncake market has already begun, with several giant cake manufacturers rushing to set up stalls along streets citywide since early July.

But consumers say it is too early to begin preparations for the festival.

Pham Ngoc Nguyen, a District 3 resident, recently stopped by a Kinh Do mooncake booth and carefully examined the cakes.

But she will not buy any, at least for now. “I just wanted to see if there are any new products this year and consider the prices,” she says.

Vendors also admitted that sales remain poor, as most customers prefer window shopping over actually opening their wallet.

Even so, most of the products bear higher prices than last year, with increases of between 5 and 10 percent. Normal cakes now cost VND35,000 – VND125,000 each, while the deluxe varieties can fetch more than VND1 million per box.

Cake makers are also introducing new flavors and special products for people on a diet to lure customers, using healthy ingredients like green tea or azuki bean.

They are also increasing production for this year’s festival.

Kinh Do said it will supply 2,400 tons of mooncake for the market, a 15 percent increase from the last festival, while Bibica, another popular mooncake brand, has reported a 10 percent increase in supply. Other smaller brands, such as Nhu Lan, Duc Phat, and Brodard, have also said their production went up by 5 to 10 percent compared to last year.

While the retailing market seems quiet, the manufacturers said their sales from the corporate segment, where businesses order a large number of cakes for their employees, are showing positive results.

Kinh Do said sales to this segment have risen 15 percent from last year, while Bibica asserted that it has fulfilled 30 percent of its targeted sales.

“I’m still confident over the market this year,” Kinh Do deputy CEO Nguyen Kinh Luan said.

The mid-autumn festival is annually observed by local people on August 15 of the Lunar Year. Traditionally, all family members will gather at night to drink tea, eat mooncake, and enjoy the full moon, while children play with their candle-lit lanterns.

Tuoi Tre

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