New kinds of mooncakes ready

HCM City (VNA) - A new full-moon season starts in one month and confectioneries nationwide are ready with many kinds of mooncakes with new flavours.

Along with improving product quality, companies have invested in creating new products with attractive designs and packaging.

About 50 trademarks have joined the market this year, including Mondelez Kinh Do, Thanh Long, Huu Nghi, Dong Khanh, Hy Lam Mon, ABC, Duc Phat and Tous Les Jours.

Speaking with Vietnam News, Modelez Kinh Do said they were ready to offer 84 different kinds of mooncakes this year.

The company first launched Oreo mooncakes in 2007, which are designed based on the modern technologies of Mondelez International and Kinh Do’s traditional experiences in making mooncakes.

These Oreo moon cakes will be made for the Vietnamese and Chinese market, the company said, noting that many other products had been exported to the US.

Other companies including Bibica and Dong Khanh have also begun introducing products for the mid-autumn festival season.

In HCM City, many booths selling mooncakes from these companies can be seen throughout the city.

A representative from Bibica told Viet Nam News that the company this year would introduce 600 tonnes of mooncakes with 60 different kinds, up by 10 percent year-on-year.

The company added that this year it would make mooncakes in a Japanese style with materials imported from other countries.

He added that the company was focusing on design and packaging as well as using healthy ingredients.

Traders have also started their full-moon season by importing a big volume of mooncakes to sell on social networks like Facebook or websites.

These mooncakes are mostly imported from Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.

A trader said that she started to import mooncakes from the beginning of August, and that customers had been buying the moonackes out of curiosity.

Le Thi Thanh Xuan from the Delicacy shop said that her company’s full-moon imports this year will jump by 60 percent. Last year, they imported 1,000 boxes.

Handmade moon cakes are also in high demand.

Dinh Truc, mooncake makers in Binh Tan district, said that the company had made mooncakes for years and most of his customers prefer those shaped like one the 12 animals of the zodiac.

He has received dozens of orders from customers. This year he will design more shapes and create mooncakes, with many new flavours.

Confectioneries said the price this year had slightly increased by between 3 percent and 5 percent.

They attributed the price hike to the increasing income costs for power, water, human resources and transportation.

Some traders, however, said that well-designed packaging had increased the prices of the cakes.

The cost for packaging accounts for 20 percent of the total cost, according to traders. - VNA