Mooncake Retailer Profits Take a Hit Under Tariffs Despite Strong Sales

By Shelly Zhao


Despite record mooncake sales during the Mid-Autumn Festival, distributors in the US have been faced with an estimated festival profit loss of 50%, mainly due to reduced import volumes under cost pressure brought by new import tariffs, while resellers profited from doubling prices amid strong demand.

Wing Wah is a long-established premium mooncake brand in Hong Kong and remains a top choice for gift-giving.


New Kam Man, the largest retailer and distributor of Wing Wah mooncakes on the East Coast, halved its imports this year due to hefty tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and over concerns about dead stock. However, demand from both resellers and customers remained unexpectedly strong even before the festival, which quickly exhausted the shop’s entire remaining inventory.

 

The U.S. government imposed higher taxes on imported goods, saying it would encourage consumers to buy more American-made products and boost domestic investment. The average tariff on Chinese goods stands at 51.1% as of May 2025, according to the data reported by the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

 

According to Joseph Foudy, an economics professor at NYU, it’s harder for small to medium-sized businesses to forecast the exact cost when tariffs are a moving target. Firms imported less as prices increased due to the increasing duties, and upfront costs to pay and fewer predicted sales.  

 

Foudy added that tariffs are taxes on consumers. Although the costs are initially shared among foreign firms, distributors, importers, and consumers, over time the vast majority falls on consumers.


Due to the reliance on the support from the Chinese community, New Kam Man  only raised the selling price of Wing Wah mooncakes by 10% and shared a larger proportion of the added cost with resellers. “The revenue we earned even wasn’t enough to cover the tariffs”, said Hei Chan, the owner of New Kam Man. 

 

“The mooncake market is tiered,” said Wei, a supplier of another mooncake brand sold at the reseller. “Even when prices go up, customers still prefer established labels, while ordinary brands struggle to sell even with promotions or discounts.”

 

According to the manager at the reseller, they didn’t experience any profit loss during the festival and were among the few shops with remaining Wing Wah mooncakes stock. “Even if the mooncakes didn’t sell out completely, we can always return them to the supplier,” the manager said.

 

While still recovering from pandemic losses, Chan’s store is now facing a second strike from tariffs. “It appears that our business conditions will not return to previous levels in the short term, it will take time”, said Chan.

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