Domestic gift recycling businesses suffered considerable losses during the recent Spring Festival holidays and the average repurchase price for high-end alcohol fell by 30 percent compared to the same period in 2012, forcing some companies in the sector to close, the Legal Mirror reported Saturday.

When China celebrates traditional festivals, especially Spring Festival, countless gifts are exchanged among officials, relatives, friends and colleagues across the country.

Many gifts that are not necessities but that are still valuable, such as cigarettes and alcohol, are resold to gift recycling companies.

But in response to the central government's ban on overspending of public funds in July 2012, officials have been declining to buy high-end alcohol or drink it during receptions, leading to decreasing sales and a fall in the later recycling of high-end gifts, the paper reported over the weekend.

The report noted that the recent recycling price of Feitian Moutai fell to 700 yuan ($112.35), compared to 1,100 to 1,300 yuan during the Spring Festival holidays of 2012.

Global Times