China to boost supply of Olympic panda mascots amid shortages

China’s Olympic committee has pledged to increase production of merchandise after unexpected demand from people looking for a way to get involved in the Games led to shortages of the local mascot.

The official mascot, a panda named Bing Dwen Dwen wearing a transparent snow suit, has featured across the Games events and promotions. A large dancing Bing Dwen Dwen appeared in the opening ceremony, while plush toys have been held aloft by athletes on the podium.

The popularity has led to shortages of merchandise across retail outlets, exacerbated by factory shutdowns across the lunar new year holiday period, according to officials and state media, which have reported hours-long queues of people outside shops. On Monday the Beijing Olympic Committee said it was working with factories to increase supply.

At one flagship store, the Tmall Olympic, 50,000 had been sold already, according to local media, while an online store sold out within 15 minutes. Other outlets were instituting limits of one per customer, and “one Dwen at each family” became a trending topic on Weibo, with more than 10 million viewers in 24 hours.

Analysts from Shanxi Securities estimated the total revenue from official Olympic merchandise could reach 2.5 billion yuan (£291.4m).

Olympic mascots and associated merchandise are often hit and miss. Some remain largely unrecognised even during the Games, as was the case at the 2018 Rio de Janeiro Olympics with “Vinicius” or the 2002 Salt Lake City trio of Powder the hare, Copper the coyote and Coal the black bear. London’s 2012 mascots were described at the time as “phallic bugbears”, while at the 2000 Sydney Olympics the trio of native Australian animal mascots were upstaged by an unofficial wombat named