China stamps down on excessive packaging with tighter regulations for festive F&B

11 May 2022 --- The Chinese government is imposing tighter packaging restrictions ahead of the country’s annual festivals. The new legislation will see a set of complex guidelines imposed last year for most F&B packaging extended to include festive snacks like mooncakes and rice dumplings.

In November 2021, the Chinese government’s State Administration for Market Regulation introduced legislation to cut down on empty space and needless material usage in consumer packaging, thereby reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.

The rules, which are planned for enforcement as of September 2023, cover 31 F&B categories – including oils, meats, dairy, beverages, grains and confectionery – and 16 cosmetics categories.

Now, the Chinese Ministry of Information and Industry Technology (MIIT) has published a new set of draft regulations aimed for adoption in August this year, in time for the annual Mid-Autumn Festival and Dragon Boat Festival.

“The amendment clearly states that only three layers of packaging are permitted for mooncakes and rice dumplings, and manufacturers also need to ensure that the total packaging costs for all packaging (excluding the innermost packaging that is in contact with the food item) does not exceed over 20% of the product’s overall retail pricing,” says the MIIT in a formal statement.

Proportional regulation
The broadening of “excessive packaging” laws in China is part of the country’s wider efforts to cut down on material and energy usage, which has caused crises in many regions over the past year.

Luxury materials like mahogany will be forbidden for festive snacks.Many F&B and cosmetics items are packaged in materials as valuable as the product itself, and many with luxury additions like gemstones, gold and valuable woods.

“All manufacturers of these products must note that the use of precious metals and stone (gold, silver, rubies) or luxury materials such as mahogany are not permitted for the use in the packaging of mooncakes and rice dumplings,” says MIIT.

“In order to avoid complications, mixed packaging for these items is also not permitted – so it is not permitted for mooncakes to be packaged with other retail items, nor for rice dumplings to be packaged together with any other items that have a higher retail value within the same package.”

The Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as the Mooncake Festival, when the majority of China’s 1.4 billion inhabitants celebrate the harvest time by eating Mooncake pastries. The Dragon Boat Festival, celebrated in June, is observed by drinking realgar wine and rice dumplings.

Industry implications
The announcement places huge implications for the F&B and packaging industries, which now have a short period of time to prepare for the measures. Not only producers of mooncakes and rice dumplings are implicated, since the laws apply to all businesses selling sets of goods that include these items.

Often, Chinese consumers buy gift boxes with assortments of items for these festivals. All firms in the country involved in the supply chain of these sets will now be impacted, and costs may rise for consumers.

While this could cause disruptions in the short term, the regulations could force industry to reorganize and innovate, potentially saving massive amounts of material and associated emissions.

According to Innova Market Insights, 64% of Chinese consumers say they would be willing to pay more for more environmentally sustainable packaging. However, only 5% of Chinese consumers see limited packaging material as an important issue when shopping online.

By Louis Gore-Langton

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