Chinese candy set for return abroad

By Wang Hongyi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-19 09:12

SHANGHAI: China's famous White Rabbit candy will be back in shops overseas from April, six months after sales were halted amid the widespread tainted milk scandal.

Guan Sheng Yuan, which makes the candy at its base in Shanghai, has already completed 95 percent of its redistribution plans for the domestic market since it returned to shelves last October.

"Everything is still being prepared and the new overseas markets plan will be announced in April," company spokeswoman Wang Yiyi told China Daily yesterday, adding that the candy will return better than ever.

Weng Mao, general manager of Guan Sheng Yuan, said the plan will include launching a high-end product this year in China and abroad.

"It will be an upgraded product compared with the current milk candy, although still under the White Rabbit brand," he said, explaining that the current White Rabbit product would no longer be available overseas.

First produced in Shanghai in 1943, White Rabbit milk candy, with its various incarnations and 45-percent milk content, is popular in China and around the world. But makers were forced to halt exports and recall domestic supplies last September when 27 countries and regions found their products had been contaminated with melamine, which if eaten can cause kidney stones and other illnesses.

Guan Sheng Yuan was hit hard by the tainted milk scandal that rocked China and staff were upset such a famous candy had been involved, Weng said.

Three weeks after the scandal, the candy made its comeback sporting a new look, but not before passing local quality watchdog tests.

"During the first day of restoring supply, sales of White Rabbit milk candy hit 20,000 yuan ($2,900)," said Wang Guoxiang, general manager of Shanghai First Provisions Store in Nanjing Road.

"So far the market recovery is still relatively positive, based on sales," Guangzhou branch manager for Guan Sheng Yuan, also surnamed Wang, told the city's New Express Daily. He said sales in Guangzhou have returned to 70-80 percent of previous levels.

Ding Shaohui, secretary-general of the China National Candy Association, said the effects of the tainted milk scandal were starting to fade and that the country's candy industry could still achieve 10-percent growth this year.