Varying “buying enthusiasm” during Qingming Festival

6 April 2024

Due to rises in raw material prices, the most popular sacrificial paper offerings during Qing Ming Festival have faced varying degrees of price increment, with the highest reaching nearly 50% in some cases. Meanwhile, the "buying enthusiasm" sparked by the Qingming Festival in the market also varies from store to store.

Ms.Wu, mother of Tian Ling Xiang Trading owner, told Kampar Daily that the store has been selling sacrificial offerings since the Lantern Festival this year. 

She explained that while sacrificial activities during the Qingming Festival usually lasted for about ten days before and after the actual day in the past, but most people nowadays no longer have any taboos on the timing of annual sacrifices, many customers even take advantage of the holiday period to return to their hometowns to worship their ancestors.

"During this period, customers stop by to buy sacrificial offerings one after another, the business was particularly brisk on last week weekend, particularly on Friday, because everyone wants to avoid the weekend peak," she added. 

She revealed that although the sales this year are not as good as before the movement control order (MCO), they still managed to recover to nearly 80% of the previous sales.

According to her, most of the sacrificial offerings in the store are imported from China, and many locally made offerings also use materials from China, thus rising in prices of raw materials definitely affected the selling prices, particularly for innovative styles offerings such as paper aeroplanes and houses, which can turn out to be doubled in prices,

“Although the economy is sluggish, and the prices of various paper offerings fluctuate, most of our customers, who are long-term regulars, still have the same purchasing power as in previous years,” she said. 

She added that various innovative paper offerings that appeared in the market in recent years are also quite popular among their customers because of their uniqueness and freshness.

On the other hand, Ms. Liu, an employee of the Prosperous Neighbourhood Spice Store, said that the store only started selling Qingming Festival sacrificial offerings at the end of March this year, and the peak period for customers to come and buy was last week, during the Qingming Festival. 

“However, part of it may be due to the economic downturn and price increment due to increases in prices of raw material, this year's sales still have a slight gap compared to last year, some customers only chose to buy half of what they bought last year.” she said. 

She revealed the way the store stocks items nowadays, the store dare dare not stockpile a lot of goods at once like before, instead will adjust according to the market situation, and will only replenish it If it's not enough.

She also mentioned that most of the paper offerings in store are mainly traditional items such as clothes, shoes, and umbrellas, and mostly made locally, with the rise in raw material prices, the prices this year have also been adjusted.

"Our customers are mostly of a more traditional type, preferring to buy things that  their deceased elders used before,” she said. 

清明节期间，不少民众都会购买祭品缅怀及祭拜已故亲人，其中最为热门的纸扎祭品今年因原料价格调涨等缘故，价格上皆面临了不同程度最高可达近50八仙的调涨，而同时市场上因清明节而掀起的“买气”也参差不一。

天令香贸易老板的母亲吴女士在受询时表示，今年该店自元宵节后便开始售卖祭品，以往清明节的祭祀通常都会在正日前后的十天，但如今大多民众对于每年祭祀的日子已无任何忌讳，不少顾客更是会趁着假期期间返回金宝祭祖。

“这期间陆陆续续都有顾客前来购买祭品，而上个星期周五和周末两日生意更是尤其火爆，尤其是周五，因为大家都想避开周末高峰。”

她透露，今年清明节的销量虽不比行动管制令前，但也已恢复了之前销量的近80八仙。此外，虽然经济不景气，各种纸扎品也因原料涨价的缘故价格起伏不一，但大多数顾客仍持有与往年一样的购买力。

“店里的祭品大多为中国进口货，很多本地制作的祭品原料也源自中国，所以价格肯定会受影响，尤其是较新颖的款式如纸扎飞机和房子，影响最大的调涨了一倍左右，而我们的顾客大多为多年熟客，基本上都保持与往年一样的购买量。”

她补充，近几年出现的各种新颖纸扎品，也因更有新鲜感而亦颇受顾客喜爱。

另一方面，旺街坊香料店员工刘女士表示，今年该店3月尾才开始售卖清明节祭品，而顾客前来购买的高峰期则是在上星期，也就是清明节祭祀期间，但今年销量对比去年来说仍有点差距。

“部分可能是因为经济不景气的缘故，有些顾客今年只选择购买了往年一半的量，所以我们店里不会进太多货，会根据市场情况去进行调整，卖得不够再进行补货，不敢像以前一样一次性囤很多货。”

她透露，店里所售卖的纸扎品多为本地制作，基本都是一些较传统的祭品如衣服、皮鞋、雨伞等等，而随着原材料价格上涨，今年祭品的价格也进行了调整。

“我们的顾客都属于较传统的类型，更趋向于购买一些已故长辈生前有在使用的东西，而今年由于来的货价格方面也有些调涨，只能贵来贵卖。”

Reported by Lee Yi Ling l 报道：李依霖