People queued up outside the Daoxiangcun Foodstuff Group’s
Dengshikou store in Beijing to buy yuanxiao, or rice
dumplings, on Saturday. The company’s Andingmen store sold six tons
of the sweet treats that day.
Sales of rice dumplings also rose at other food outlets and big
supermarkets around the city during the weekend preceding
Wednesday's
Lantern Festival, meaning that the dumpling deluge got an
earlier start than in preceding years.
Rice dumplings are traditionally eaten on the Lantern Festival,
which falls on the 15th day of the lunar year, or February 23 this
year. The small, round dumplings are made of glutinous rice flour
and filled with sweetened rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube
paste, walnuts or dried fruit.
“Although sales on Saturday reached six tons, we estimate the
peak will come on Monday and Tuesday,” said the sales manager at
Daoxiangcun's Andingmen store, adding that they have ordered
another 40 tons but may still have trouble filling all the orders
from individuals and groups.
Daoxiangcun, a century-year-old food producer, is looking at
encountering a dumpling shortage during the holiday for the third
consecutive year.
Chi Xiangdong, a manager at Daoxiangcun, said, “The shortfall
this year is still big. Although we have increased the daily output
to 80 to 100 tons, up 15 percent from the same period last year,
the supply still can’t meet the demand.”
Customer clamor for the delicious dumplings continues unabated
despite a rise in prices. Daoxiangcun has hiked the bulk price for
its products from 10 yuan (US$1.21)?per 500 grams to 12 yuan
(US$1.45), the first increase in a decade. Prices for gift boxes of
yuanxiao have also gone up.
Rising production costs are the primary reason for escalating
prices. For example, the price of glutinous rice, a main ingredient
of rice dumplings, has risen to 1.9 yuan (23 US cents) per
500 grams from 1.2 yuan (15 US cents), up 32 percent; while
prices for fillings such as walnuts, melon seeds and preserved
fruit have also climbed. Coupled with higher energy and
transportation expenses, the overall cost of making rice dumplings
has increased substantially.
“Almost all our customers at Daoxiangcun are old ones, so we
don't want to raise the price. But the cost pressure is really
heavy,” said the manager.
(Beijing Youth Daily, translated by Zhang Tingting for
China.org.cn, February 22, 2005)
