HK$1 meals a taste of things to come at park products fair

A meal of shark's fin, dried scallops and sliced whelk for just HK$1 will be among the gimmicks to attract customers at this year's Brands and Products Expo.

With enticing deals and discounts, exhibitors hope to promote their products and brand names amid economic uncertainty, a more expensive yuan and inflation fears.

'We expect our business at the expo this year to be up some 30 per cent from a year ago,' said Jaime Wong, general manager of Wai Yuen Tong Medicine Company, which is offering the HK$1 deals.

During the expo's first week, from December 11-17, the company will slash the price of a box of braised shark's fin with dried scallops and sliced sea whelk in soy sauce from HK$128 to HK$1.

A box of cultivated cordyceps - a type of mushroom found on the mainland that is known to be effective in treating liver diseases, high cholesterol and the loss of sexual drive - will also be discounted from HK$71 to HK$1.

Only 150 of each of these two products will be offered at the special price each day. Other attractive HK$10 offers will also be available.

Wong said that last year the average visitor spent about HK$700. But for individual mainland travellers, the figure was higher at more than HK$1,000 each.