HONG KONG – Chinese shoppers on their Lunar New Year holiday were less lavish than expected by Hong Kong jewelers, curbed spending on beauty brands and slowed spending at South Korean stores. They may keep that pace in the coming year of the dragon.

Holiday sales on the mainland grew 16 percent to $75 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce, the slowest pace since the 2009 financial crisis and 3 percentage points below last year’s increase. China is finding it is not immune to global economic forces and the slowdown is hitting Chinese consumers, who may increase this year’s spending at a slower pace than in 2011.

This may mean trouble for the growing number of foreign companies rushing into China, especially luxury brands, said Jason Yuan, an analyst at UOB Kay Hian in Shanghai.

“This year is going to be tough, probably the toughest year for many foreign luxury brands since they entered into China,” he said.

“Sales of jewelry and valuable watches during Chinese New Year were quite disappointing,” said Caroline Mak, chairman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association. “Sales growth of over 30 percent last year is unsustainable against a worsening macro-economic backdrop.”

Some member jewelers reported customers buying smaller diamonds than they used to, she said.

Hong Kong jeweler Chow Sang Sang Holdings International, whose sales grew as much as 28 percent in the first three days of the holiday, expects quarterly sales growth to slow to 10 percent in the second quarter from 15 percent in the first.

Sales director Dennis Lau declined to make projections for the rest of the year because of worries a further global downturn could hurt consumer sentiment.

“We can’t see how strong the recovery in the U.S. is, and the debt crisis in Europe never seems to end,” Lau said early last week. “If those economies mess things again, it could severely hurt global consumer confidence.”