Pop Mart shares hit new high amid growing fan craze

Shares of Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, listed in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, closed at HK$269.80 ($34.37) on Wednesday, surging 4.25 percent and reportedly hitting a record high.

The popularity of the trend toy Labubu has led brokerages to raise Pop Mart's price target. Deutsche Bank boosted its target for Pop Mart shares by 52 percent to HK$303, citing strong overseas growth momentum. Morgan Stanley lifted its target to HK$302 from HK$224, saying it should be valued at a similar level to Sanrio Co and Walt Disney Co, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

As of press time, there were 1.6 million #Labubu TikTok posts, with users posting various contents ranging from unboxing blind boxes to displaying their figure collections.

The growing global collectables craze for Labubu figures shows that the structure of Chinese export goods is continuously diversifying, said Li Changan, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics.

"Previously dominated by traditional labor-intensive manufactured products, there is now a shift toward goods with higher value and greater cultural significance, which has become a crucial aspect of foreign trade," Li told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Li also highlighted China's robust manufacturing capabilities in fundamentally supporting the exports of Labubu products.

On Tuesday, a mint-color Labubu doll with a height of 131 centimeters, created by Hong Kong-born artist Kasing Lung, was sold for 1.08 million yuan ($150,259) at an auction in Beijing through Yongle Auction. Another limited-edition brown Labubu was sold for 820,000 yuan ($114,119) along with the mint one and other Labubu collectible items, according to the auction company's WeChat mini program.

The auction was the inaugural collectible Labubu art special at Yongle Auction's 2025 Spring Auction, billed as the world's first Labubu-themed auction, the Beijing News reported. After two hours, all 48 lots achieved a 100-percent sale rate, with a total transaction value of 3.73 million yuan. In addition, several limited-edition Labubu dolls fetched high prices in tens of thousands of yuan.

In addition to Pop Mart, other Chinese brands have also found international success. Top Toy operates more than 280 stores worldwide, with related companies exporting 53 batches of products valued at about 47 million yuan in 2024. Another brand, 52Toys, reported more than 300-percent growth in Thailand last year and a 220-percent overall increase across Southeast Asian markets, the People's Daily online reported last week.

The report noted that China's trendy toy industry still holds significant growth potential in global markets. The sector's total value is projected to reach 110.1 billion yuan by 2026, with an average annual growth rate of more than 20 percent, according to a 2024 report led by the National Academy of Economic Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.