October Sales Growth Exceeds 500%, Fuping Persimmon Cakes' Glamorous Turnaround
By Jotham Lim
11 min read
Key Points of the Article:
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Moojing Market Intelligence + data shows that in October 2023 consumers bought more than 730,000 Fuping persimmon cakes on mainstream e-commerce platforms, with sales reaching 63.12 million Yuan, an increase of 506% on the same month in 2022. The rise shows how much more willing consumers have become to buy this regional speciality.
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Fuping persimmon cakes, a regional product, are already widely recognised in the industry, and we expect continued improvements in taste and appearance to give rise to new brands that suit the way consumers now shop and eat.
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Fuping persimmon cakes have changed from a primary agricultural product into a commodity and from a festival gift into an everyday purchase, which has helped Fuping build a more diversified local industry and offers an example for the development of similar agricultural products.
Persimmon cakes are now among the foods that many consumers associate with autumn and winter, although persimmons were a niche fruit in earlier years, grown only in certain regions, and most persimmon cakes on the market looked unappealing. The growth of online channels over the past two years, together with new tea beverage brands that have promoted persimmon flavours, has brought the fruit to a wider public. The best-known example is the persimmon cake from Fuping County, which is known as "China's Persimmon Town".
Moojing Market Intelligence + data shows that in October 2023 consumers bought over 730,000 Fuping persimmon cakes on mainstream e-commerce platforms, with sales of 63.12 million Yuan, an increase of 506% on the same month in 2022. That is a significant rise in consumers' desire to buy this regional speciality.
This article looks at the story behind the product, the consumer trends that the data shows, and the lessons that other regional agricultural products can take from the success of Fuping persimmon cakes.
How a Regional Persimmon Became a National Product#
Fuping County lies in central Shaanxi Province, where the Shaanbei Plateau meets the Guanzhong Plain, and its fertile land, abundant sunshine and large difference between day and night temperatures make it a well-known area for high-quality persimmons. It produces the "Fuping Tip Persimmon", which carries a national geographical indication, is heart-shaped or spindle-shaped, is high in sugar and nutrients, and has been cultivated for more than two thousand years.
Although persimmon cakes are only a primary processed agricultural product, their production is elaborate and involves twelve steps, among them peeling, hanging, kneading the core and drawing out the frost. The traditional local method is to hang strings of persimmons on high poles after the first frost of autumn and leave them to dry.
The soft, moist core is a distinctive feature of Fuping persimmon cakes, and to form it, experienced makers knead the core by hand during drying, often two or three times over the cycle, so that moisture leaves the inside of the fruit faster. After more than a month of drying in the sun and wind, the sweet, soft persimmon cakes are ready to be sold.
Fuping County produces more persimmons than any other county in China, and the persimmon industry helped it leave its status as an impoverished county. According to reports, Fuping County produced 280,000 tons of persimmons in 2022 and processed 70,000 tons of them into persimmon cakes, for a total output value of approximately 6.5 billion Yuan.
The industry took some time to reach this point, in a way that resembles the history of coffee beans in Yunnan. For a long time, most of the profit from Fuping persimmons went to foreign buyers, because persimmon cakes had no broad audience in China at the time but were very popular in Japan and Korea. Korean buyers saw the opportunity, did detailed market research, set up stable supply at higher prices, and then cut their purchase prices sharply once supply exceeded demand. Because they bought fresh fruit, which does not keep well, Fuping farmers had to accept the low prices to limit their risk. After several years of low prices, local producers began to seek out other markets themselves and the government began to support local brands strongly, which laid the foundation for Fuping persimmon cakes to reach consumers around the world.
According to reports, about 500 tons of Fuping persimmon cakes were exported in 2022. Persimmon cakes have moved beyond being a simple primary agricultural product and have become a regional commodity that generates income for Fuping and represents its local traditions.
Online Channels Take Regional Products Beyond Their Local Markets#
Before online channels grew, agricultural products were sold mainly through agricultural markets and downstream distributors, and both channels tended to favour buyers, made it hard to build a brand and left very limited profit margins. E-commerce platforms have since allowed producers to sell beyond their own region, while social media has given niche products more exposure and made branding possible, and Fuping persimmon cakes have made good use of both.
According to Moojing Market Intelligence, from December 2022 to November 2023 the sales revenue of Fuping persimmon cakes on mainstream e-commerce platforms reached 210 million Yuan, up 88.2% year-on-year. Most products are priced below 138 Yuan. Because persimmon cakes are a primary processed agricultural product with little variation in form, listings are usually divided by size and packaging, with the price per jin mostly between 30 and 50 Yuan.
E-commerce data shows that Fuping County accounts for half of the national persimmon cake industry, as total persimmon cake sales over the same period reached 400 million Yuan, up 40.8% year-on-year. Consumers increasingly recognise Fuping as the core production area for persimmon cakes.
Like other primary processed agricultural products, persimmon cakes follow the seasons, and most products go on sale between October and December, so sales are strongly seasonal and concentrated between October and the following February. Over the past year, sales of Fuping persimmon cakes on a leading content-led marketplace increased by 216.4%, as the "short video + live streaming" sales model opened new opportunities for agricultural products.
China's agricultural market often has a category without a brand, with many concepts tied to a place of origin, such as Aksu heart-shaped apples, Sichuan Baba mandarins and Gannan navel oranges, but few brands that come to mind as readily as Zespri does for kiwifruit. The same is true of Fuping persimmon cakes. Online sales of Fuping persimmon cakes are spread across numerous merchants, many of whom simply name their product "Fuping Persimmon Cakes", which shows that brand development is still at an early stage.
Festival gifts are one of the main reasons consumers buy persimmon cakes, since good Fuping persimmon cakes are soft and sweet and suit all ages, and Moojing Market Intelligence shows that many consumers buy them as gifts for family or friends. Taste is the main reason consumers give for buying Fuping persimmon cakes, and the reviews show what consumers expect a good persimmon cake to be like.
Consumers look first for sweetness, and almost all of them expect persimmon cakes to have the white frost that forms naturally as the fruit dries, which is reflected in the saying "may all your endeavours succeed, good persimmons turn into frost". They also look for a delicate texture, ideally with a soft, flowing centre, which is a feature of Fuping persimmon cakes, and freshness matters as well. Most negative reviews concern taste, with some consumers saying the persimmons were too astringent, too sour or not fresh enough.
Persimmon cakes are an agricultural product and are not standardised by nature, so problems can easily arise in quality control and storage, which producers will need to address. We believe that grading standards for persimmon cakes, covering size, the thickness of the sugar frost and whether there is a soft centre, together with products of consistent and controlled quality, will be key to success in the industry.
Refinement and Industrialisation: Fuping's New Persimmon Story#
As consumers pay more attention to Fuping as a place of origin, Fuping persimmon cakes have become widely recognised in the market, and the industry is becoming more refined.
Persimmon cakes used to be bought mainly as holiday gifts, but as their audience has grown they have also become an everyday snack. According to Moojing Social Media Intelligence, discussion of persimmon cakes in workplace settings on social media rose 114% over the past rolling year. Discussion in settings such as watching dramas, staying at home and drinking tea also rose significantly. Two trends have emerged to meet everyday demand for persimmon cakes, as derivative flavours are becoming more varied while packaging is becoming more refined.
Persimmon cakes have changed steadily as a snack in recent years. Dates stuffed with walnuts have been a popular health snack, and persimmon cakes stuffed with walnuts have followed them onto the market. A food blogger also suggested on social media cutting persimmon cakes open, placing a small piece of butter on top and warming them in the oven until the butter begins to melt, so that each slice combines the savoury richness of dairy with the sweet juiciness of the fruit. Merchants have since introduced butter persimmon cakes, cheese persimmon cakes and other variants.
According to Moojing Market Intelligence+, total sales of these products reached 12.8 million yuan over the past rolling year, up 94.2% year-on-year, of which products made from Fuping persimmons accounted for about 2.52 million yuan. Complex-flavoured persimmon cakes are still a relatively niche category, but as more consumers eat persimmon cakes as a daily snack, we expect product forms to diversify and complex-flavoured persimmon cakes to have considerable room to grow.
Packaging has also changed, as Fuping persimmon cakes used to be sold as a basic agricultural product in simple packaging, some without individual wrapping. Individual wrapping is now widespread, complex-flavoured persimmon cakes are packed slice by slice, and packaging design as a whole is closer to the tastes of young consumers.
Fuping persimmon cakes, as a product tied to a place of origin, are already widely recognised in the industry, and we expect continued improvements in taste and appearance to give rise to new brands that suit the way consumers now shop and eat.
Fuping County's large persimmon harvest also gives it the conditions to develop related processing industries locally. Persimmons are high in sugar, which makes them a good raw material for jams and fruit wines, and beyond food they are also used in clothing and textiles. Persimmon dyeing is a traditional Chinese folk craft in which juice pressed from green persimmons is made into a varnish that is used to soak and dye fabrics such as cotton, linen, silk and wool. Green persimmons that food processing would discard as waste can therefore be put to use. In May 2023, China's first modern persimmon varnish production line was set up in Fuping through a collaboration between the Jiangsu Branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Botany and the People's Government of Fuping County, which formed the "China Fuping Persimmon Dyeing Research Center". Its output was expected to reach 80 tons the following year.
Fuping has used the persimmon to build a more diversified local industry.
Summary#
Persimmon cakes have moved from agricultural product to branded commodity and have entered the everyday lives of more consumers, who now eat them while working late or watching dramas. Fuping County, by extending from persimmon cakes into other forms of processing, has upgraded and transformed its industry.
The success of Fuping persimmon cakes shows the potential of regional agricultural products, and whether through building brands within the category or linking up with related industries, Fuping offers a strong example for the development of similar agricultural products.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Very fast, from a regional base. In October 2023 alone, consumers bought over 730,000 Fuping persimmon cakes on mainstream e-commerce platforms, generating 63.12 million Yuan, a 506% increase on the same month a year earlier. Across the twelve months to November 2023, sales reached 210 million Yuan, up 88.2%. For context on how much of the category that represents: total persimmon cake sales over the same period were 400 million Yuan (+40.8%). Fuping therefore accounts for roughly half the national segment and is growing at more than twice the category rate.
Online channels, mostly. Before them the outlets for agricultural products were wholesale markets and downstream distributors, which favoured buyers, made a brand hard to build and left thin margins. E-commerce removed the geographic limit and social media gave a niche product exposure, which together made branding possible for the first time. Content commerce accelerated it specifically: sales on a leading content-led marketplace grew 216.4% over the year, with the short-video-plus-livestream model opening a genuinely new route for agricultural products. The scale behind it is real: the county produced 280,000 tons of persimmons in 2022, processed 70,000 tons into cakes, and generated roughly 6.5 billion Yuan in total output value.
The absence of a brand, and the absence of a standard. China's agricultural market has a recurring pattern of category without brand, with many geographic-indicator concepts and few names a consumer recalls unprompted. Online sales here are scattered across numerous merchants who simply name their product after the region, so brand development remains early. Product consistency is the related problem: persimmon cakes are non-standardised by nature, so quality control, storage and freshness all vary, and negative reviews cluster on astringency, sourness and staleness. Establishing grading standards for size, the thickness of the sugar frost and whether there is a soft flowing centre, and delivering against them consistently is what would convert regional recognition into a defensible brand.
From festival gift toward everyday snack, and from single product toward an industry. Workplace-scenario discussion of persimmon cakes rose 114% over a rolling year, with similar gains for watching dramas, staying at home and drinking tea, so the occasions are multiplying beyond the gifting window. Two product responses follow: derivative flavours are diversifying, with walnut, butter and cheese versions now on the market, and packaging is becoming individual and considerably more designed. Complex-flavour products reached 12.8 million yuan over a rolling year at +94.2%, still niche but with clear headroom. Beyond food, the same raw material supports jams, fruit wines and traditional persimmon dyeing, which is where a single crop becomes a diversified industrial structure.
