China will become world's third-largest luxury goods market in five years

Consumption of luxury goods surprisingly rebounds strongly this year in the United States and Asia, sales of luxury goods in China increases by 30 percent; the growth in China once again ranks the first in the world. China will become the world's third-largest luxury goods market in five years, according to Bain a consulting firm.　

Bain predicts that global sales of luxury goods will grow 10 percent to 168 billion euros (US $235 billion) this year, far higher than the 4 percent growth the firm forecasted in April and sales in 2008

In addition to the 30 percent sales growth of luxury goods in China, sales in the United States increased by 12 percent, sales in Europe increased slower at 6 percent, sales in Japan continued to decline by 1 percent.

But Bain predicts that sales growth will slow down next year, partly due to continued depreciation of the U.S. dollar against the euro and strong sales in 2010. The firm also forecasts that sales in 2011 will grow by 4-5 percent, which is more consistent with historical growth rates.

These projections indicate that the luxury goods industry has realized a substantial recovery, after an 8 percent fall in sales last year, which was the worst performance of luxury market.