HCM City (VNS/VNA) -With around a month to go for the Mid-Autumn festival, moon cake producers haveunveiled many traditional and new varieties.

Big names like ABCBakery, Kinh Do Mondelez, Dong Khanh, Bibica, Thanh Long, and Givral havestarted selling early this year.

The Asia Bakery andConfectionery Pte. Ent, known as ABC Bakery, has begun the season by exporting60,000 cakes to the US for distribution through supermarkets.

At home it makes cakesfor 22 five-star hotels and large bakeries with their names andlogos, Kao Sieu Luc, the company’s general director, said.

It would supply at least2.5 million cakes (500 tonnes) for the Mid-Autumn Festival, including newvarieties made with fillings like imported Singaporean barbecued meats, lotusand chia seeds and dried apricots, lotus seeds and cranberries, andlava-custard, he said, adding that the company sold two million last year.

The Bibica Corporationwill launch over 600 tonnes of cakes, an increase of 10 percent from last year.

There would be 60products in three lines - luxury, nutrition and tradition – besides fruit mooncakes for online customers, it said.

Many amateurs tooare offering handmade moon cakes on Facebook and other socialmedia, with unique designs and materials.

Moon cakes imported fromHong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia are also available.

The prices oflocally-made moon cakes this year range from 38,000 to 500,000 VND and 150,000-2million VND for a box of four.

According to businesses,cake prices are up 3-7 percent this year due to higher costs of labour andimported paper for packaging.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Thuy,owner of Thanh Long Cake and Sweet Establishment, said the price of thepackaging paper has increased by 30 percent.

The appreciation of thedollar has pushed up the prices of imported inputs, she said.

Her establishment hasmanaged to cut costs and also lowered profit margins to hike prices by only 5 percent,she said.

Many of theconfectionary firms expect demand for the cakes for gifting to relatives andbusiness partners to increase this year, with supply 10-20 percent higher thanlast year.

Luc said this year thenumber of five-star hotels and big restaurants buying from his company has beenmuch higher.

With a few more weeks togo for the peak sales season, producers continue to study the market to launchmore products.-VNS/VNA