A customer shops for mooncakes in a Chinese chain supermarket in Toronto, Canada on Monday. Photo: cnsphoto

China's traditional mooncake export orders have seen a substantial increase with some companies achieving an up to 70 percent increase in exports ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival.

As one of the traditional foods enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn Festival, mooncakes have gradually become familiar and loved by many overseas consumers, in parallel with the recognition of Chinese culture and popularity of Chinese delicacies, industry insiders said.

From January to August this year, food companies in Songjiang district in Shanghai have exported nearly 10 tons of mooncakes, with their export value increasing by 22.3 percent year-on-year, media reports said. 

During the same period, the export value of mooncakes in the Guangzhou customs area in South China's Guangdong Province reached $6.71 million, a year-on-year increase of 95 percent, data sent by Guangzhou customs to the Global Times on Tuesday revealed.

An employee with a domestic large snack food supplier based in Guangzhou told the Global Times on condition of anonymity that they have received overseas orders two months ahead of the Mid-Autumn Festival from the US, Europe, Australia and some neighboring countries including Japan. 

"We have exported tons of mooncakes in different flavors to cater to a range of tastes, including those that made using cheese and chocolate," said the employee, noting that the export volume increased by up to 60 percent compared with the same period last year.

In order to transport them to the US and Europe on time, overseas buyers booked several containers weeks in advance at an increased costs, which given the container shortage and logistic hurdles at the moment, have not been easy.

Dong Kezhi, director of the overseas business department of Suzhou Daoxiangcun, said that the company exported more than 20 containers and nearly 5 million mooncakes, a 70 percent increase in mooncake exports this year compared to the same period last year, according to media reports.

The mooncake is the symbol of family reunion and eating mooncakes and watching the full moon during the Mid-Autumn Festival is a time-tested custom for people in China for over a thousand years. The styles and ingredients of mooncakes have also changed and innovated over time.

In addition to the Beijing-style, Suzhou-style and Cantonese-style mooncakes, some mooncake manufacturers this year have introduced special fruit and nut-filled mooncake to cater to the tastes of overseas consumers. 

The sources of the ingredients have also been expanded to cater to wider flavors.

"The quality of Turkish nuts is very good, and because of this many our nut products source raw materials from Turkey," media reported, citing Zhou Guangjun, President of Suzhou Daoxiangcun.

 

Enhancing food safety

Mooncakes are subject to more than 30 safety indexes that must all be qualified before exporting to foreign countries, Guangzhou customs told the Global Times. 

In order to help the Chinese traditional festival food become global, Guangzhou customs has strengthened risk analysis addressing all aspects from raw material procurement and product technology to food label production, said an official with Guangzhou customs.

"The source of raw materials can be traced, the production process and product quality can be monitored," the official noted.

As the main production and export base for Cantonese-style mooncakes, there are 18 export mooncake manufacturers in the customs area of Guangzhou customs and these enterprises have all increased their overseas orders this year, according to the customs.

As mooncakes are being enjoyed by a wider population both domestically and overseas, the number of mooncake companies is also growing. Data from Chinese corporate database Tianyancha shows that in the past 10 years, the growth rate of mooncake-related enterprises in China has been about 10 percent, and an average of over 2,000 mooncake-related enterprises have been registered each year.

The booming registered numbers are driven by the big profit margin for industry participants. 

According to data from iiMedia Research, China's mooncake sales have increased from 13.18 billion yuan ($2.04 billion) in 2015 to 20.52 billion yuan in 2020, reflecting the upward trend. 

Although the golden sales period of mooncake is short and seasonal, less than two months before and after, it is the main source of revenue for some catering and food companies, industry insiders said.

Following China's successful suppression of the coronavirus, the demand for visiting relatives and friends to continues to recover, with iiMedia Research expecting that China's mooncake sales will hit 21.8 billion yuan in 2021.