Expansive and Expensive Taste

At a joint news conference, China Council for Promotion of International Trade and the World Luxury Association announced the establishment of the China Luxury Trade Committee and released the WLA 2011 report. The report says that gross sales of China's mainland luxury market (excluding private jets, yachts and luxury sedans) hit US $10.7 billion last year, trailing only Japan and accounting for one fourth of the world's total. It predicts that China will become the world's top luxury consumer in the first quarter of 2012, a span into which three shopping-intensive festivals are squeezed – New Year, the Spring Festival and Valentine's Day. Andy Kline, a WLA researcher, revealed at the news conference that the stronger yuan and weaker euro give Chinese greater buying power in the global market, making Chinese spending on luxury goods in foreign countries already the world's largest. Last year Asian consumers splurged US $69 billion on luxury products in Europe, of which US $50 billion came from the pockets of Chinese mainlanders.