Mooncake market: Starting with "huge prices"

Although the Mid-Autumn Festival has just begun this year, many types of mooncakes with extremely high prices have appeared, up to more than 10 million VND/set of products.

Start early…

In the second half of the sixth lunar month, scattered on many streets in Hanoi such as Kim Ma, Nguyen Khanh Toan, Cau Giay... many shops selling moon cakes have appeared.

Ms. Trinh Nhu Nga, an employee at a mooncake stall on Kim Ma Street, said: I sell about 60 cakes a day. At this time, the mooncake products launched on the market are not much different from last year. However, the price has increased slightly from 2,000 to 3,000 VND/cake.

At the stalls, there are only about 10 types of cakes with familiar flavors such as: green bean and watermelon seed sticky rice cakes, taro and lotus seed baked cakes; coconut milk sticky rice cakes... Vendors said that only during peak season (from the 15th day of the 7th lunar month to the 15th day of the 8th lunar month) when cakes sell well, do the cake companies launch a variety of cake designs and flavors for customers to choose from.

Kinh Do mooncakes are commonly priced at over 50,000 VND/piece for 150g; 100,000 VND/piece for 250g; 460,000 VND/piece for 800g. The most expensive cakes are Seafood Shark Fin Baked Cake; Roasted Chicken with Sauce; Ham and Char Siu; Five-grain Chinese Sausage...

Mr. Nguyen Viet Anh (Cau Giay, Hanoi) said, "I take my children to buy cakes at this time because of the family's needs and preferences. As for moon cakes as gifts, I will buy them in early August."

No difference yet, but the price is... huge

Not only did the moon cake shops of businesses like Kinh Do launch their products early, but in the high-end segment, the Daewoo Hotel in Hanoi also displayed products since August 9, 2015.

High-end mooncakes from hotels are often elaborately decorated in form and packaging. Each box of mooncakes is often accompanied by tea and wine as gifts for relatives, businesses and partners.

The lowest price is from 660,000 VND/box of 4 cakes with chestnut, taro, and green rice flavors. The highest price is a box of 6 cakes with a free bottle of Macallan 18 for 13,600,000 VND. A box of 6 cakes with a free premium oolong tea costs 1,160,000 VND.

Confident about its competitiveness with other types of cakes on the market, the owner of Bao Phuong Mooncake Shop in Thuy Khue, Hanoi said: The shop always maintains the traditional flavor to retain regular customers, creating its own Mooncake flavor on the market.

Not only that, traditional moon cakes are also competitive in price: The prices of the cakes are lower than those produced by enterprises, ranging from a few thousand to a few tens of thousands of VND/piece. Baked cake with mixed sausage costs 40,000 VND/piece; Baked cake with mixed ancient ingredients costs 50,000 VND/piece; Sticky rice cake with lotus seeds and lemon leaves costs 40,000 VND/piece.

In addition, this traditional bakery increases its competitiveness by selling until 12am, serving all customer needs. At the same time, it allows customers to see the cake making process right at the store./.

According to VOV.VN