Early sales of mooncakes – a food traditionally distributed among families, workplaces and other social groups to celebrate China’s Mid-Autumn Festival – have softened compared to previous years, another sign the country’s domestic demand has yet to fully reenergise.

While not all recipients eat their mooncakes – the calorie-dense pastries are an acquired taste – the exchange of these non-essential goods is viewed as a bellwether for the enthusiasm of the country’s consumers.

“This year’s per-person budget is only 140 yuan (US$20), a 40 per cent drop from last year, even though Mid-Autumn gifts are one of our most important employee benefits,” said Grace Qiu, administrative manager at a Guangzhou-based corporate consulting firm.

“The industry is extremely sluggish. We lost our biggest client and then had to lay off a third of our staff since the start of the year.”

Mid-Autumn Festival, like other holidays based on China’s lunar calendar, sometimes overlaps with celebrations built around a date on the official Gregorian calendar.