(Yicai Global) Feb. 6 -- Sales of tang yuan, a traditional Chinese ball-shaped dessert made of glutinous rice, soared in the period leading up to China’s Lantern Festival, which was celebrated yesterday.

Average daily sales of tang yuans jumped to about 100,000 from 60,000 as the Lantern Festival approached, according to Ningbo Tangtuan, a store in Shanghai’s Yuyuan Garden.

The store’s chefs begin making tang yuans at 4 a.m. every day, Manager Xu Zhengliu told Yicai Global. Chefs can turn out at least 3,000 a day, with senior staff making one every six seconds, Xu noted.

On Feb. 2, three days before the Lantern Festival, sales of tang yuans on Dingdong Maicai surged 30 percent from the same period last year, according to the online grocery platform’s product developer.

Tang yuan sales on Hema Fresh started to increase a week before the festival. As of Feb. 1, overall sales of the delicacy on the platform of the online grocery giant under Alibaba Group Holding more than doubled over the previous week.

On e-commerce platform Vipshop.com, sales of tang yuans soared six-fold a week before the Lantern Festival compared with the same period last year. Traditional flavors such as black sesame and peanut remained the most popular.

During the festival week, sales of frozen tang yuan doubled, according to data from Chinese takeaway giant Meituan. Residents of Shandong were the most enthusiastic about them, as six of the top 10 cities by sales of tang yuan were in the eastern Chinese province.

This year, low-sugar and low-oil tang yuans gained popularity. Brands such as Si Nian, Tangxueyou, and A'Liang Workshop, all offer zero-sugar products. Since Hema’s tiger-themed tang yuans for the Year of the Tiger last year became an internet sensation, more brands have started focusing on special designs, including Chinese character-printed and rabbit-shaped tang yuans.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione