If the top analyst in the food and beverage branch of CITIC Securities Company Ltd, Huang Wei, had not published his research report, the majority of stockholders of Chongqing Fuling Pickle Group would very likely still be unaware of the limited-stock high-priced pickle, a box of which costs 2,200 yuan ($339.68).

The report, published on June 24, said that Fuling pickles had decided to target high-end consumers, as exemplified by this product. The commodity in question consists of two jars of pickles inside a box along with a pair of silver chopsticks, with the pickles allegedly having been cured for eight years before being released to the market. 

However, an employee of Fuling told the Dongfang Daily on Monday that the pricy pickle is not a new product, and that it had gone to market as early as two years ago. Later that day, Huang Wei himself admitted that his report was only hype.

Huang declined to answer whether he went to the company for field research before producing the report.

However, after his report, which recommended stockholders to further buy into Fuling's shares, the group's share price reached 19.17 yuan ($2.96) per share, with an increase of 1.43 percent.

Statistics show that Fuling made a profit of 545 million yuan ($84,148,000) last year, and the five thousand limited-quantity boxes, if sold, would add 10 million yuan ($1,544,000) to the company's annual revenue.