Export earnings offset costs
Manufacturer keeps his mooncake prices affordable through overseas sales
kyuan@thestar.com.my GEORGE TOWN: Mooncakes are more expensive this year but one manufacturer has managed to maintain his prices by increasing exports of the delicacy.
A 20% increase in overseas orders helped Leong Yin Pastry Sdn Bhd deal with the rising prices of ingredients as well as keep prices competitive for the local market.
The company’s mooncakes are selling for between RM16 and RM20 a piece.
Its managing director Leong Kok Fei said his company supplied mooncakes to 17 countries and this helped to cushion the effects of the foreign currency exchange.
“Some of the nuts and seeds are imported, and their costs have increased due to the currency exchange.
“However, our exports this year have increased by 20% and this helped to offset the costs,” he said at his shop in Jalan Patani here.
Leong said his company was also absorbing 20% of the increase in the costs of transportation and packaging this year.
Overseas and local demand for mooncakes, he said, was causing filling like lotus seed, red bean and pandan paste to “fly off the shelves”.
With less than two weeks left to the Mid-Autumn Festival, Leong said the company’s stock was depleting fast, adding that the factory in Bukit Mertajam had been running around the clock to meet the demand.
“It has surged by 30% with bulk orders from businesses.
“Besides traditional flavours, others that have become bestsellers are the ones with red dates, coconut, durian and green tea.
“One of our mooncakes was inspired by the yin-yang drink of coffee combined with milk tea.
“We also have gula melaka or Nyonya mooncakes to reflect Malaysia’s cultural diversity,” he said, adding that all his mooncakes are halal.
Thai tourist Bongkot Wongwanicshin, 31, who drove in from her country to buy the mooncakes, said the cakes were a hit in her hometown.
“I sampled it once three years ago and could not resist coming back every year to get them,” she said.
This year, the festival will be celebrated on Oct 4.