China is expected to release a state standard this October on the packing of moon-cake, a kind of traditional Chinese food for mid autumn festival, to curb the high-rising price of the food. The standard will be put into effect from next year, according to the Ministry of Commerce.
Moon cake is a kind of cookie with fillings of sugar, fat, sesame, walnut, lotus seeds, dried flower petals or other material. Chinese people traditionally eat the moon cakes in the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the Moon Festival. This year's Mid-Autumn Festival falls on September 18.
China now has more than 10,000 moon-cake producers nationwide, which turned out nearly 200,000 tons of moon cakes, registering a sales volume of 10 billion yuan (US$1.23 billion).
"In the past years, there was a trend in the industry for the price of moon-cakes to become higher and higher because of over-packing and product tie-ins," said Wang Yao, deputy secretary-general of the China General Chamber of Commerce.
In 2003, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, a box of moon cakes that was attached to a flat had a listed price of 310,000 yuan (US$37,500). In the same period in 2004, a box of moon cakes containing a piece of pure gold Buddha posted a price of 180,000 yuan.
Though exorbitantly priced moon cakes are but a very small portion of the overall market, they nonetheless have a pernicious influence and have caused a strong reaction from society, said Wang.
To curb the trend, The State Development and Reform Commission (SDRC), the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Industry and Commerce, and the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Check and Quarantine, jointly posted a notice early this month to warn companies to stop the selling of moon cakes with "sky-high prices."
The joint notice dictated that moon cake price-setting must follow the principles of fairness, legality, honesty and commensurate quality, saying relevant government departments will treat the issue seriously to help conserve resources, protect the environment and building a harmonious society.
After the notice, associations engaged in moon-cake making and selling, like the China General Chamber of Commerce, the China Cuisine Association and the China Restaurant Association jointly released a written proposal, asking companies to adopt environment-friendly and suitable packing on moon cakes and pay more attention to improve the quality of the food.
(Xinhua News Agency July 29, 2005)
