(Yicai Global) June 11 -- The number of registered products sold via direct sales in China has fallen by 55.5 percent to 1,917 so far this year after government agencies campaigned against the practice.

Authorities reviewed 89 direct selling firms and suspect two of them may be pyramid schemes, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement yesterday.

Thirteen departments, including the State Administration of Market Regulation, began a campaign to crack down on irregularities in the healthcare market and direct selling sectors earlier this year. The crusade culled the number of direct sales coaches by 16.3 percent to 2,457 and reduced the headcount of sales staff by 16.6 percent to around 3.3 million.

Several administrative departments added multiple Quanjian Nature Medicine Technology Development offices to their list of companies operating abnormally as they believe the Tianjin-based firm is running a pyramid scheme. The company has 10 offices, 23 service outlets, eight coaches and 40 products distributed via direct selling, the commerce ministry data showed.

Police detained Hebei Hualin Acid-Base Biotechnology's person in charge and other staff in January on suspicion of false advertising and running a pyramid scheme. It has five offices, 37 service outlets, one registered trainer and eight kinds of direct sales products.

Editor: James Boynton