Competition not to blame
The increased competition has failed to reduce prices for mooncakes, but has in fact pushed them even higher. Many claim that a "twisted mooncake culture" is to blame.
The 10 billion yuan market is booming "not because the cakes are irresistible," according to state-run Chinanews.com. Instead, sending cakes with luxurious ingredients is a subtle way to curry favor.
Chinese consumers don't just buy a tin of mooncakes to share with the family; they send them to business partners, clients, bureaucrats and even their children's school principals in order to win positive influence. It is this unspoken etiquette that has encouraged the price growth, according to the media.
As the festival approaches, the reception areas of businesses have become inundated with colorful packages of mooncakes. The Chinese have long been obsessed with holiday gifts, especially mooncakes – and the more expensive the better.
Nobody wins
Yet bakeries from both home and abroad have started to feel a chill from customers just two days before the big day.
According to the Shandong Commercial News, on Thursday many supermarkets kicked off sales promotions on mooncakes with noticeable discounts, responding to a 30% drop in total sales this year.
As a result, mooncake wholesalers have embraced a delayed boom. "We have all waited for the prices to go down," said a businessman surnamed Han in East China's Shandong Province.
As for the profits earned by bakeries, it's too soon to tell. However, it's probably safe to say that regardless of how fancy or exotic the mooncake, most customers will likely shy away unless the price is right.
