Future getting cloudy for Cantonese mooncake exports

By Zheng Caixiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-24 09:12

GUANGZHOU: Exports of Cantonese-style mooncakes are set to disappear behind a dark cloud this year.

The popular delicacies, a traditional gift during the Mid-Autumn festival, could be hit hard following a ban in the United States on mooncakes that contain meat, poultry or yolk.

"And other foreign countries and regions, including the European Union, Japan, Canada and Australia, have also introduced their own trade barriers and strict examination standards to ban and reduce importing mooncakes this year," the Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily quoted an official from the Guangzhou chamber of commerce as saying.

Guangzhou was named "mooncake capital" by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in 2007.

The southern metropolis is famous for the production of Cantonese-style mooncakes, which usually account for half of all mooncakes sold nationwide and a major share of those exported.

The US has been a major importer in past years.

In response, local manufacturers have turned their eyes on the vast domestic market.

"Mooncakes have become an important ingredient in maintaining business and work relations during the festival, a symbol of reunion in the mainland," said Liang Zhaomin, an executive from a local trading company.

Liang's company annually purchases a large number of mooncakes to send as presents to clients at home and abroad for the Mid-Autumn festival, which falls on Oct 3 this year.

Officials refused to forecast how much exports will fall.

However, an executive from Lianxianglou restaurant, a major mooncake producer in the city, said sales will not see a reduction this year, despite a decline in exports.

"This is because of the growing domestic market for mooncakes," an executive who did not want to be named told China Daily.