Mooncakes hit Ho Chi Minh City streets, with prices rising

Mooncakes are commonly given as a gift during the Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam, which is also known as the 'Children’s Festival.’

The fest takes place on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, falling on September 25 this year.

Mooncake stalls have begun appearing along major streets across the southern metropolis, offering a wide range of brands, while supermarkets are also displaying mooncakes from numerous manufacturers.

Retail prices vary considerably across product lines and market segments.

Kinh Do mooncakes are generally priced at VND62,000-438,000 (US$2.4-16.8) apiece, depending on the type.

Gift boxes commonly sell for VND600,000-2 million ($23-76.5), depending on their contents.

Many sellers shared that prices were around VND1,500-2,500 ($0.05-0.09) higher per cake than last year.

Customers buying in bulk may receive discounts of up to 20 percent off the listed retail price.

Bibica is also offering a broad range of products, with gift boxes typically priced at VND300,000-2..5 million ($11.5-95.6) and individual cakes at VND50,000-170,000 ($1.9-6.5).

Nguyen Quoc Hoang, general director of Bibica Corporation, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper on Saturday that the firm plans to put around 500 metric tons of mooncakes on the market this year, up 10 percent year on year.

In addition to increasing output, Bibica has diversified its price segments and flavors while reducing sweetness to appeal to a wider range of consumers.

On pricing, Hoang said rising raw-material costs had put pressure on manufacturers, prompting most producers to raise prices from last year.

Bibica's prices have increased by around VND2,000-3,000 ($0.07-0.11) per cake.

“Cake makers are trying to keep prices within a reasonable range to support consumers while maintaining sales,” he said.

“An increase of no more than five percent is acceptable.”

Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, director of Dong Khanh Food Company, which produces Dong Khanh's Bong Lua Vang mooncakes, told Tuoi Tre on the same day that higher input costs had pushed this year's mooncake prices up by around VND2,000 to VND3,000 per cake.

She noted that prices have increased by roughly the same amount in recent years.

“The main customer base is companies buying mooncakes as gifts, but demand from this group has been declining year after year,” Thuy said.

“This has put pressure on the firm and forced us to adjust production accordingly.”

Some producers said it was still too early to assess consumer demand.

However, in recent years, most manufacturers have increasingly based production on actual market demand, producing and selling in smaller batches rather than manufacturing large quantities well in advance.

As a result, only around 20-25 percent of the planned output has been produced at this stage.

Production is expected to accelerate sharply about a month before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Mooncake promotions on offer at supermarkets

Supermarket chain MM Mega Market is offering customers a VND100,000 ($3.8) voucher when they purchase mooncakes worth VND650,000 ($24.8) or more.

Meanwhile, other supermarkets such as Co.opmart, WinMart, and Bach Hoa Xanh are discounting large-volume mooncake orders by up to 20 percent.

This year, many stores and supermarkets are also introducing smaller mooncakes and children's varieties priced at just VND25,000-50,000 ($0.95-1.9) apiece, giving consumers more affordable options amid rising prices.