Gift Packaging Pushes Chengdu Zongzi Prices to Highest in Years as Bamboo Baskets and Rattan Crates Gain Ground

The third Dragon Boat Festival Commodity Expo and Zongzi Culture Festival opened yesterday at the Chengdu Shawan Convention and Exhibition Center, drawing more than 100 well-known zongzi companies. Exhibitors led by brands such as Wufangzhai, Qianweifang and Baguo Buyi made gift boxes costing hundreds of yuan their key promotional items. A person familiar with the matter said that as mooncake and pastry makers have rushed in and invested heavily in packaging and add-on products, zongzi appear set to follow in the footsteps of mooncakes this year, with prices already rising to their highest level in years.

As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, group-buying demand at many supermarkets is gradually warming up. Nearly all large supermarkets have assigned dedicated staff to handle group purchases and launched group-buying promotions.

A visit to major supermarkets in Chengdu showed that zongzi sales are becoming increasingly brisk, with a peak expected this weekend. Carrefour has launched a special discount for Dragon Boat Festival food purchases above a designated one-time spending threshold; Ito-Yokado offers an extra discount for one-time purchases of a certain number of gift-box zongzi. Other merchants provide services such as free packaging for festival food purchases and free home delivery above a certain spending amount.

Market Oddity: Bamboo Baskets and Rattan Crates as Packaging Gain Ground

The reporter also found that besides exquisite paper gift boxes, bamboo baskets and rattan crates are widely used for zongzi packaging. A Baguo Buyi gift box—from a brand that since this year only makes gift-box zongzi—uses two bucket-shaped containers to hold diamond-shaped zongzi, preserved duck eggs and Zhuangyuanhong yellow rice wine; a Qianweifang gift box uses a golden-yellow paper box containing six flavors of zongzi and wild-egg preserved eggs.

According to the event introduction, at this zongzi culture festival's exhibition hall and at major Ganso food specialty stores around the city, gift-box combinations are what really catch the eye. Yesterday at a large supermarket, the reporter saw a combination gift box containing Wuliangye liquor, bird's nest beverages, organic salted eggs and zongzi, showing signs that luxury mooncake-style pairing is extending to zongzi.

Luxury Mooncake Style Extends to Zongzi

This year's zongzi come in many varieties, with fillings such as red bean paste, lotus seed paste, red bean with salt and pepper, abalone and scallop, five-grain, matsutake and egg yolk. Wufangzhai zongzi once sold out in the Sichuan market, forcing mooncake companies that previously paid little attention to zongzi to re-examine this market. It is understood that Wufangzhai, which now holds the lion's share of the Sichuan zongzi market, has already increased output this year, while other followers are also betting on the zongzi market.

Not only mooncake companies but also traditional pastry makers, Western pastry shops and coffee houses have entered the zongzi category this year. A visit to major markets in the city showed that brands rarely seen before, such as Longwang, Qinyuan, Jiahe and Tianlun, have appeared in supermarket zongzi display areas; although their zongzi are not yet priced above 1,000 yuan, they show a clear trend toward premium packaging.

Reporter's Observation: Has Zongzi Also Caught 'Luxury Disease'?

Zongzi are essential food for the Dragon Boat Festival, and even if prices rise, people will still buy them. Merchants are seizing on this psychology to push high-priced zongzi. At the same time, mooncake and pastry companies that once ignored the zongzi market have entered aggressively, strongly suggesting they may follow the path of the mooncake market.

Eating zongzi at the Dragon Boat Festival is linked to the great patriotic poet Qu Yuan. Legend has it that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, local people went to the riverbank and threw zongzi into the water to feed the fish, shrimp and crabs so they would not bite his body. If zongzi also go down the luxury route, it would not prove people's respect for the Dragon Boat Festival and traditional culture; instead, it might dilute the meaning of the festival. In fact, zongzi do not cost much, and even if raw material prices rise further, companies can still be profitable. While merchants enjoy high profits, they inevitably increase the cost for ordinary people to celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival.

— This article is republished from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-370005.html