Approaching the Mid-Autumn Festival, the popularity of mooncake consumption has risen. What are the new changes and trends in the mooncake market this year, do sky-high mooncakes still exist, and has mooncake packaging been slimmed? In response to related issues, the Economic Daily reporter paid a visit.

Novel

On September 9, the reporter saw at the Xinye Plaza store of China Resources Vanguard Supermarket Youyi Road in Meijiang Road, Hexi District, Tianjin, that mooncakes with the attributes of cultural and creative products were very popular with consumers.

Gao Xu, sales manager of China Resources Vanguard Supermarket Youyi Road Xinye Plaza, said: "This year, the sales of traditional mooncakes such as Wufangzhai mooncakes and Guishunzhai mooncakes are relatively good, especially affordable handmade mooncakes due to the variety of promotional methods, the sales volume is relatively high; Wenbo mooncakes, co-branded mooncakes, low-sugar mooncakes and other special mooncakes are favored by special consumer groups. Although the unit price per box is higher than that of traditional mooncakes, sales are not falling behind. ”

The main theme of this year's Xiamen mooncake market is also innovation. Crayfish fresh meat stuffed mooncakes, squeezed vegetable fresh meat stuffed mooncakes... At a "net celebrity" Chinese pastry counter in SM City Plaza in Xiamen, mooncakes with various creative fillings have attracted many consumers to try them. The price is also relatively affordable. Crayfish fresh meat stuffed mooncake 4.9 yuan a piece, squeezed vegetable fresh meat stuffed mooncake 3.9 yuan a piece, "sky-high mooncake" almost disappeared.

The unique southern Fujian characteristics of the meeting cake has always been loved by the old Xiamen people. This year, many merchants continue to make a fuss on the pie. Xiamen Airlines Lu Xiansheng launched an auspicious and happy gathering moon and southern Fujian traditional cake gift box. Xiamen's time-honored brand Zaolong uses "bigger than the face" as its Hokkien meeting cake advertisement.

The emergence of "joint models" is also a major new trend in the Xiamen mooncake market. For example, Xiamen Airlines Kitchen and Ovaltin jointly launched the "Fun Flight" mooncake gift box. There are also bakeries that launch the "Good Persimmon Peanut" mooncake gift box, which makes the appearance of mooncakes into peanuts, persimmons and other shapes.

The reporter visited Guanshengyuan Food Factory Group Co., Ltd., a time-honored enterprise located in Jiangbei New District, Nanjing, Jiangsu. On the fully automated production line, pieces of mooncakes pass intelligent quality inspection, undergo diversion, and are packed and transported to Anhui, Hubei, Shanxi and other places.

"In order to advocate a new consumption culture, the mooncakes we produce are packaged with simple packaging and undiminished flavor, and this year's new flavors such as 'poplar apple manna + lime', 'purple sweet potato + caramel', and Da Hong Pao are widely welcomed by young consumers." Wang Jian, deputy general manager of Nanjing Guanshengyuan Food Factory Group Co., Ltd., said that since August, 8 offline stores in Nanjing Guanshengyuan have launched 30 gift boxes and 23 bulk mooncakes, all of which are cost-effective products.

Pack slimming

Walking into the Jinrunfa chain supermarket on Caochangmen Street, Gulou District, Nanjing, mooncakes are prominently placed at the entrance of the supermarket. "The price of mooncakes this year ranges from tens to hundreds of yuan, and the most expensive mooncakes do not exceed 450 yuan." Under the display of the counter shopping guide, the reporter saw that most of the mooncake products packaged in gift boxes were packaged in one to two layers, and a small number of high-grade gift boxes were packed in three layers, and the materials were mainly paper boxes and iron boxes.

The reporter visited a number of shopping malls in Xiamen and found that this year's "sky-high-priced" gift boxes with high-end tea, tea utensils and drinks have disappeared, and most of the gift boxes on the market range from tens of yuan to more than 300 yuan.

From the overall situation of the Tianjin market, the packaging of gift boxes tends to be more practical, generous and concise. The person in charge of the relevant department of the Tianjin Market Supervision Commission said that according to the information learned from the inspection, the current price of mooncakes for sale in Tianjin is basically in a reasonable range, and the price of boxed mooncakes is basically below 500 yuan per box, and no "sky-high" mooncakes have been found.

It is understood that from September 9 this year, the national standard "Restrictions on Excessive Packaging Requirements for Food and Cosmetics" was officially implemented, which clearly restricted the excessive packaging of mooncakes. Affected by this, this year's mooncake gift boxes have faded from the heavy and complicated packaging, and have worked creativity.

"This year's mooncake products no longer pursue high-grade packaging, but pay more attention to the taste and real material of mooncakes, but simple packaging or bulk mooncakes are sought after, specially bought a few boxes to take back to relatives and friends." Li Zhiqiang, a customer who came to Nanjing from Anhui to work, told reporters.

Regulatory intensification

In order to curb excessive packaging of goods, Tianjin launched a three-year (2022-2025) special action. Recently, the relevant departments of Tianjin issued relevant regulatory documents for the mooncake market during the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2023, and inspected a number of mooncake business units. Collect information such as the category and unit price of mooncakes on sale, check whether there are false prices, vague prices, false discount and price reductions, non-fulfillment of price commitments, etc., as well as whether valuable materials are used for packaging, too many packaging layers, tie-in sales of other goods, mixed sales of mooncakes with other valuable commodities in the form of gift boxes, etc., focusing on checking boxed mooncakes with high unit prices.

The Xiamen market supervision department also conducted surprise inspections on whether festive goods were over-packaged and whether they were clearly priced. Law enforcement personnel mainly conduct inspections of high-end hotels, restaurants, and large supermarkets, focusing on checking whether operators are dealing in over-packaged goods; Whether mooncakes are being sold, whether tea leaves are tied to other products, whether the price is clearly marked, etc. The on-site inspection found that most of the mooncakes and tea sold by the merchants met the standards, and the price was also between 100 yuan and 400 yuan, which did not exceed the red line of the price.

The person in charge of the relevant department of the Tianjin Municipal Market Supervision Commission said that the next step will be to comprehensively promote the publicity and implementation of the new standard, carry out special supervision and inspection around key tasks, gather key seasons, key areas and key units, continue to increase the intensity of law enforcement inspections, resolutely curb illegal acts of excessive packaging of key commodities such as mooncakes, rice dumplings, tea, health foods, cosmetics, etc., vigorously cultivate and carry forward a simple, green and low-carbon production and life culture, and accelerate the green transformation of development methods. (Source: Economic Daily)