China News Service, Beijing, September 1st (Wei Xianghui) The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, and this year's mooncake market is still attracting attention.
In June, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued relevant regulations to make clear requirements for moon cake packaging to curb the phenomenon of "high-priced moon cakes".
Despite the success, some "edge balls" still persist.
Some consumers say that they value the sense of festive rituals more than luxurious packaging, so some cheap and simple mooncakes have also become popular.
The picture shows the simple moon cakes in a Beijing supermarket, photographed by Wei Xianghui
A box of mooncakes sells for 1188 yuan
Inspired by the "Glass Palace" at the entrance of the French landmark Louvre, with the terminal price of 1,188 yuan, Haagen-Dazs' operation seems to immediately make moon cakes, a traditional Mid-Autumn Festival food, " large and luxurious".
In April this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced a number of typical cases of excessive packaging of goods, including the above-mentioned Haagen-Dazs "Louvre Reflecting the Moon" ice cream mooncake.
According to the notification, the "Louvre Yingyue" series of ice cream sold by the Beijing Branch of General Mills Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. on September 17, 2021 was unqualified for the packaging void ratio, and it was an excessively packaged product.
According to survey data, due to different fillings, packaging materials, etc., although there are certain differences in the production cost of boxed mooncakes, the overall production cost is not very high, and the average production cost is about 70 yuan per box.
Affordable mooncakes basically adjust their prices spontaneously in accordance with market rules, and many mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan are over-packaged, over-hyped, and unworthy of their name.
"Compared with other foods, moon cakes have significant seasonality and gift attributes. In order to seize the opportunity to obtain high profits, merchants will try their best." A senior practitioner in the food industry explained to Chinanews.com that the excessive packaging of moon cakes has caused s reason.
The picture shows this year's moon cake ice cream co-branded by Haagen-Dazs and the Louvre Museum.
Image source: Haagen-Dazs brand WeChat public account
Businesses play a "word game"
Chinanews.com saw in the official flagship store of Haagen-Dazs on an e-commerce platform that the brand continued to launch a Mid-Autumn Festival gift box co-branded with the Louvre Museum this year. Two of the mooncake ice cream gift boxes are priced at 288 yuan and 358 yuan respectively. Yuan.
This year, Häagen-Dazs and the Louvre Museum jointly launched a total of 7 Mid-Autumn Festival gift boxes. Except for the above two, the price of the other 5 models is more than 500 yuan. The most expensive one is the Louvre Palace Mid-Autumn Festival Gift Box. , the price is 999 yuan.
When Chinanews.com asked the store's customer service whether the products it sold were mooncakes, the other party replied that it was a paper mooncake coupon issued after the order was placed, and it needed to be picked up by appointment.
On June 9, when Häagen-Dazs official Weibo released the product promotion, it also called it "Mooncake Ice Cream Gift Box", and then changed its name to "Golden Autumn Gift Box Set".
Recently, the Belgian chocolate brand Godiva has also been caught in the same controversy.
Its official website and offline stores have launched a high-priced Mid-Autumn Festival gift box with a price of up to 1,699 yuan, and the product shape is very similar to moon cakes, but the packaging only says "chocolate pastry".
Therefore, netizens questioned that he was playing a "word game".
As of press time, Chinanews.com has not been able to find the above products in the Mid-Autumn Festival series sales area on the official website of Godiva, but can only be found in the gift certificate exchange area.
The 2022 Mid-Autumn Festival gilded and elegant gift box sold on Godiva's official website is priced at 469 yuan for 8 pieces, and the single price is nearly 60 yuan.
Image source: Godiva official website
Four departments took action, and all regions strictly investigated "high-priced moon cakes"
The reason why businesses spend so much effort may be related to the release of the "strictest moon cake restriction order" this year.
In June, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments issued the "Announcement on Curbing "Sky-high" Moon Cakes and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), which proposed the sales price and packaging of moon cakes. The new requirements have been drawn, and a regulatory "red line" has been drawn.
For example, focus on the supervision of boxed mooncakes with a unit price of more than 500 yuan; requiring operators to produce and sell boxed mooncakes to strictly abide by the mandatory standards for food packaging, and not to use precious metals, mahogany and other precious materials.
On August 15 this year, the No. 1 Amendment to the National Standard of "Restriction of Excessive Packaging of Commodities - Food and Cosmetics" was officially implemented.
The standard stipulates that the number of packaging layers for moon cakes and zongzi should not exceed 3 layers at most; the packaging gap should be compressed; the packaging cost should be reduced. For moon cakes and zongzi whose sales price is more than 100 yuan, the proportion of packaging cost in the sales price will be reduced from 20% to 15%. %; Precious metals and mahogany materials shall not be used for packaging; it is forbidden to mix moon cakes with other products, etc.
Recently, market supervision departments in many places across the country have carried out special rectifications against excessive packaging, "high-priced mooncakes" and other chaos, and raided mooncake manufacturers, high-end hotels, supermarkets, and mooncake operators in professional markets.
According to the aforementioned "Announcement", all violations of laws and regulations are found to be strictly investigated and dealt with, and relevant information about violations of laws and regulations is incorporated into the national credit information sharing platform in accordance with the law and published on the "Credit China" website and the national enterprise credit information publicity system.
The picture shows citizens buying mooncake gift boxes in a supermarket before the Mid-Autumn Festival this year.
Photo by Tang Shi
Simple-packed mooncakes are popular with consumers
At present, under the strict order, the effect of "slim down" and price-friendly moon cake packaging is obvious, and consumers' purchasing habits are also changing quietly.
Last year, the Mid-Autumn Festival consumption data of a fresh food e-commerce platform showed that "light-packed" mooncakes were very popular, and small boxed, single-packed and light-packed mooncakes accounted for 90% of the platform's overall sales.
Recently, Chinanews.com visited many supermarkets in Beijing and found that this trend is expected to continue this year.
In a shopping mall in Beijing's Daxing District, some of the mooncakes in the bulk pastry section are packaged in simple plastic boxes. The price of a box of eight lotus paste-flavored mooncakes is only 10.82 yuan.
In addition, a few mooncakes with combined flavors are priced at no more than 30 yuan per box.
The shopping guide told Chinanews that these simple mooncakes are very popular with everyone.
A citizen who came to shop said, "Eating mooncakes is mainly for a festive sense of ceremony. If you eat them yourself, you don't pay much attention to the packaging. These mooncakes with simple packaging are affordable and convenient, so it's a good idea to buy one." ( Finish)