After National Day, there’s another celebration that most Singaporeans look forward to: The Mid-Autumn Festival (aka Mooncake Festival).

Usually, the F&B industry goes into overdrive. No longer do brands and bakeries just congregate in shopping malls and event halls to display their latest mooncake flavours, now many businesses have moved mooncake sales online.

With Covid-19 changing the way we eat, speak, and meet, how we handle festivities has changed for good. If you have relatives, friends, or loved ones overseas that don’t have access to mooncakes – shipping mooncakes to them is one viable option.

However, this process can get complicated as shipping food overseas generally has many restrictions. Moreover, mooncakes are not a standard food item list.

We’ve compiled a checklist for shipping mooncakes internationally.

1. Check if your mooncake shipment flouts any regulations

Since 2016, 34 countries have disallowed mooncakes for domestic import:

Germany, Denmark, France, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Switzerland, Russia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Columbia, South Korea, Thailand, Philippines, Singapore, Qatar, India, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Burma, Congo, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Burundi, Gabon.

That said, we also note that anecdotally, other than Spain, the other countries have been lax on imposing these rules on consumer/gift shipments.

Beyond the ban, the first criteria most countries look at is weight, quantity and your shipment’s purpose. Countries such as the USA, Australia and Canada do not allow commercial shipments of mooncakes for the intention of resale, and only allow them to be shipped to friends and family. Large shipments (>10kg) of mooncake will also come under similar scrutiny.

We've put together a list of ingredient restrictions for 9 common countries that our customers ship to.

In particular, we want to highlight from real-life data:

• Mooncakes containing egg yolk or meat being sent to Germany/USA/Malaysia always get rejected and returned.
• Generally, sending mooncakes with no egg yolk or meat to Malaysia can still be unpredictable.
• Any type of food being sent to Spain always gets rejected.
  

2. Check the mooncakes’ shelf life

If you’re thinking of choosing the most cost-effective option, shipping internationally can take weeks. This duration might be extended if there are shipping delays.

Always ensure that your mooncakes have a shelf-life of more than a month, and cross check with your shipping provider how long it takes to ship to your recipient’s country.

You wouldn’t want your loved ones to feel pressured by the expiry date, but rather enjoy the treats sent to them.

JustShip can send your mooncake to any location in the world in 2-5 working days*. With JustShip’s affordable rates, you’ll get premium air shipping at cheap rates.

*excluding delays – e.g. weather, travel bans and country lockdowns.

3. Check if your mooncakes are properly packed

First, check to see if the mooncakes are well-fit in the mooncake box. If the mooncakes move around a lot when you shake the mooncake box, you can consider stuffing some tissue or paper so the mooncakes move less.

Second, make sure the exterior is strong. Singaporeans spare no expense when it comes to mooncakes. Not only do our mooncakes taste good, it should also look good.

While the boxes mooncakes come in are beautiful, they fall short in terms of keeping your mooncakes securely protected. Most decorative boxes only hold the mooncakes in place for presentation.

So if you’re considering shipping mooncakes overseas, it’ll be wise to invest in a good double-corrugated box that your mooncake box can fit snugly into.

At JustShip, we can bubble wrap your decorative mooncake boxes and ensure your boxes are well padded with foam to ensure the mooncakes survive the journey!

4. Ship with a courier with the right experience

JustShip has shipped mooncakes for many of our customers, such as Mdm Ang PL.

Check out our other reviews about our services here.

This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Saturday, 10 September 2022. If you’re looking to ship mooncakes internationally, the earlier the better.

JustShip offers cheap international shipping including picking, packing. Got questions, Whatsapp us at +65 9118 7971 / hello@justship.sg to speak to a customer service representative. Got a package? JustShip with us today.