Mooncakes made of gold and silver are selling like hot cakes in China as gifts during the Mid-Autumn Festival, reported Xinhua news agency last week.

Sold in various weights of gold or silver, many of these mooncakes have reportedly sold out in the run-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 30.

Mooncakes, a traditional Chinese delicacy made of lotus seed paste, are given to family and friends in China as gifts to celebrate the Mid-Autumn harvest festival.

The Bank of Communications is reportedly selling a 500-gram gold mooncake at over 21,000 yuan (US$3340) while ICBC Bank is offering a gift box of two 50-gram gold mooncakes, inscribed with auspicious motifs and Chinese characters, for 47,620 yuan (US$6,820). The cheapest of ICBC Bank’s range of mooncakes is a mooncake made of silver that is priced at 850 yuan each (US$135).

Other banks that have also jumped onto the bandwagon include the China Merchant Bank, Bank of Communications and Agricultural Bank of China.

These gold mooncakes are usually purchased as gifts and customers must order at least two week in advance; the gifts are “usually not for families or friends.”

The Chinese are among the top consumers of gold in the world in recent years. Over the past year alone, the ratio of Chinese rich investing in gold jumped from 0.1 percent in 2011 to 11.5 percent in 2012.