Launching the moon cake market

(Baonghean) - It's still more than a month until the Mid-Autumn Festival, but moon cakes are already being sold along major roads in Vinh City.

Diversity of products and designs

On the main streets of Vinh City such as: Truong Thi, Le Mao, Tran Phu, Ho Tung Mau, Le Hong Phong, Quang Trung, Le Loi, Lenin Avenue... to grocery stores, markets, supermarkets... many moon cakes with familiar brands are on sale. However, because it is early in the season, the number of customers choosing to buy cakes is still low.

Huong Phuc bakery in Vinh city

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival, in addition to focusing on product quality, Kinh Do also invested in packaging with embossed logos and new eye-catching designs. In addition to traditional cake boxes, this enterprise also designed premium cake boxes as gifts called Kim Cuong Truong Khang, priced up to 3 million VND/box of 6 cakes, Bach Kim Dac Loc, 2 million VND/box of 6 cakes. Traditional moon cakes, sticky rice cakes, and green bean cakes are still familiar products launched during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Depending on the weight and filling, the cakes are divided into many types and have different prices. Moon cakes are sized from 150 - 800g with fillings such as: seafood shark fin, XO sauce roasted chicken, char siu ham, five-grain sausage, shiitake mushrooms with rum sauce, roasted chicken mixed, eight-treasure ham, lotus paste, five-spice roasted pork, two eggs, one egg; Moon cakes from 180 - 250g with various fillings, prices of these cakes range from 42,000 - 445,000 VND/piece. This will be a new experience for consumers.

Meanwhile, Bibica Confectionery Joint Stock Company has launched mooncake products containing antioxidants, preventing atherosclerosis, and using natural sugar for people with diabetes. High-end cakes with shark fin filling, bird's nest filling... are priced from several hundred thousand to a million VND/box. This year, the price of mooncake products has increased by 5 - 10% compared to 2014, the designs are also diverse from popular to high-end, but customers mainly focus on cakes with prices ranging from 150,000 - 300,000 VND/box (4 pieces) for traditional cakes with green bean, lotus seed, Chinese sausage, egg filling... Mr. Thach Phi, Director of Thanh Cong Food Processing and Trading Joint Stock Company shared: The price of cakes has increased due to the increase in input materials, not because the business arbitrarily raised the price. To attract customers, we also have promotional sales policies such as priority discounts if customers order in large quantities.

Besides the stalls selling moon cakes produced by modern technology of major domestic brands, for many people in Vinh City, the authentic traditional moon cakes, not flashy on the outside but with a delicious and characteristic flavor have been in people's hearts for generations. Thanks to that, some branded moon cakes produced in Nghe An also sell quite well.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Trang, in Le Mao Ward (Vinh City) shared: I see some cake shops of domestic companies transporting products from far away, so the cakes are not hot and fresh. The ingredients now are all of unknown origin, many are from China, so I am afraid of affecting health. For many years, I have chosen locally produced cake products for myself and my family. When I bought the cakes, they were still hot and fragrant, so I feel very secure. Ms. Thach Thi Kim Huong, Deputy Director of Huong Phuc Food Processing and Trading Joint Stock Company, said: During the Mid-Autumn Festival, people still like traditional flavors. The taste of city customers often prefer less fat, less sweet, fresh but still retain the old flavor. Familiar cake fillings such as mixed, green beans, salted eggs are still the choice of customers. When eating, consumers will feel unique flavors such as the flavor of old sticky rice wine, wild honey and lemon leaves. This year, we have added products symbolizing the sky, the earth, carp watching the moon, goldfish watching the moon, piglets and fillings such as red beans, taro for dieters. Our cakes do not use preservatives so they are only produced 10 days before the main ceremony to ensure quality.

Be careful with floating products

Along with familiar moon cake brands from reputable manufacturers, floating moon cake products without labels and unknown origins have also begun to be sold at wholesale markets and traditional markets in Vinh City, especially small retail stores and markets in suburban communes.

Many mooncakes of unknown origin are sold at much cheaper prices than branded products on the market, the price of these products is only from 15,000 - 20,000 VND/piece, some are priced at only a few thousand VND/piece. Most of these products do not clearly state the production date or expiry date, some only state in general "expiry date 3 months from the date of manufacture", while the date of manufacture is not printed on the label. These types of cakes have loose crusts, the filling is mainly made of animal fat, and have little distinctive flavour.

In Vinh City, there are currently dozens of small-scale confectionery production facilities. In addition to facilities with business registration and operating licenses, there are many illegal mooncake production facilities, without labels or production addresses. On normal days of the year, these facilities mainly produce handmade cakes and candies such as: stuffed candy, peanut candy, sesame candy, cookies... Only when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes, these facilities produce and sell cheap mooncakes to the market, targeting the tastes of rural consumers and low-income workers. However, due to the low cost, the source of raw materials for cake production is also something consumers need to pay attention to.

Every year, the authorities of Vinh City have established inspection teams to inspect moon cake production facilities in the area. Through inspection, there are many facilities that do not ensure food safety and hygiene (FSH), and do not provide workers with protective gear during production. Purchased raw materials are not stored and preserved properly, and baking tools are left in disarray all over the floor. The lack of FHS at these facilities still poses potential dangers to consumers. Therefore, when deciding to buy moon cakes, customers need to make reasonable choices to ensure health safety.

Vo Huyen