Appetite for upscale dining weakens

Sales at China's high-end restaurants slumped in the first two months of the year, reflecting the sluggish state of the catering industry since the start of the nationwide crackdown on waste and extravagance in December.

The Ministry of Commerce announced on Tuesday that the catering industry's revenue growth declined 4.9 percentage points to 8.4 percent between January and February, the lowest level since 2003.

Medium and high-end restaurants are bearing the brunt of the slump, with their revenue falling 3.3 percent in the first two months of this year, the ministry said.