A Guangdong-based distributor of domestic high-end liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co was fined 500,000 yuan ($79,000) for deliberately raising a product's price in August, China's top economic planner said yesterday, a move intended to prevent hoarding and price speculation during coming holidays.

Zhuhai Port Overseas Chinese Industrial Co sent letters to supermarkets including Wal-Mart and Carrefour in August, claiming that it decided to raise the wholesale price of Feitian Moutai of 53 percent alcohol by volume to 1,280 yuan from 1,099 yuan, after Kweichow Moutai raised its price to distributors, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a statement on its website.

However, after an investigation, local authorities found that Kweichow Moutai did not make price adjustments at that time, and Zhuhai Port was fined 500,000 yuan by the Price Bureau of Guangdong Province for circulating rumors and deliberately driving up liquor prices, the statement said.

A Zhuhai Port staff surnamed Zhang declined to comment on the issue yesterday, and refused to disclose the current wholesale price of Feitian Moutai. "We only tell the price to our big clients," he told the Global Times.

The NDRC also said local authorities should strengthen inspection to prevent hoarding and price speculation in the liquor market during the coming New Year and Spring Festival holidays.

"The fine can't prevent the price rise of Moutai liquor, as its main customers are rich people and big companies rather than regular folk," said Wang Xianqing, director of the Institute of Economics at the Guangdong University of Business Studies.

Kweichow Moutai sells its products through its own franchises and hundreds of contracted dealers across the nation. Currently, a bottle of Feitian Moutai is sold at 1,099 yuan in its franchise stores, but priced at 1,800 to 2,000 yuan at other sales outlets.

Several salespeople at Kweichow Moutai's franchises in Beijing told the Global Times yesterday that the Feitian Moutai has been out of stock. "It won't be in supply before the Spring Festival," said a salesperson at a franchise located in Beijing's Dongcheng district.

Some distributors are waiting for new announcements, as Kweichow Moutai always announces price hikes in December.

"We don't have any Feitian Moutai now but may replenish stock next week, you can ask me the price by then," said a sales manager surnamed Gan at Beijing Xiangruifeng Trading Co.