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)