(Yicai) Sept. 27 -- Sluggish demand has led to uninspiring sales of China’s traditional fiery baijiu liquor in the run-up to the country’s unusually long Golden Week holiday this year, according to dealers.

Pre-holiday sales of the distilled alcoholic beverage have been quite mediocre this year, with the gap in demand between leading brands and lesser-known ones opening up further, a number of dealers told Yicai.

This year’s Golden Week break will run for eight straight days from Sept. 29 through Oct. 6 because of the way in which the Mid-Autumn Festival falls near the National Day holiday. Hopes were running high that the lengthy vacation would power sales of beverages such as baijiu.

But sales are lower than those logged before the week-long National Day holiday last year because of weaker demand, according to several large dealers who have never before fretted about sales for the holiday period.

The prospects of smaller baijiu dealers are not looking much brighter either. Wang Wei, a dealer in the northern city of Tianjin, said pre-holiday business is gloomy. His firm has sold just over CNY3 million worth of the liquor in the month before the Mid-Autumn Festival, compared with CNY5 million to CNY6 million (USD684,480 to USD821,376) in the same period in prior years.

Sales ahead of Golden Week are notably worse than in previous years, noted Li Ying, another small dealer based in eastern Shangdong province.

Baijiu is made from sorghum and grains such as wheat, barley, or rice and is known for its high alcohol content, which can range from 40 percent to 65 percent alcohol by volume or even higher. It is most often consumed at social gatherings, banquets, and celebrations.

Sales of well-known baijiu brands are doing relatively well. Wuliangye Yibin’s sales quickly bounced after the Sichuan province-based firm cut its wholesale price to about CNY940 (USD129) a bottle from CNY980 (USD134), dealers noted. But most small and mid-sized distillers have seen a big drop in sales by volume and value from a year earlier.

Sluggish demand before the Mid-Autumn Festival and the ongoing efforts of some large inventory holders to clear stocks at low prices will make life harder for some distributors and regional retailers of several small and mid-sized liquor brands and original equipment manufacturers, potentially forcing them out of the market, Xiao Zhuqing, chairman of Wuhan Jingkui Technology, told Yicai.

With distributors going bankrupt at an increasing pace, persistent weak demand would likely turn the balance sheets of a number of liquor makers red sooner or later, Xiao pointed out.

Nevertheless, Gan Quan, deputy secretary-general of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, offered a brighter outlook for the baijiu market in the second half. Golden Week will slowly revive the market, and sales of mid-end products priced at CNY100 to CNY300 (USD14 to USD41) a bottle will recover first and become a key focus for distillers, he said at a recent industry forum.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev