China shoppers help global luxury sales to 3rd strong year

MILAN (AP) - Chinese shoppers at home and abroad are pushing global sales of luxury items to new heights, helping the sector post its third straight year of strong growth since the global recession.

A new study by Bain & Company released on Monday forecasts the global luxury goods market for clothing, accessories, jewelry, cosmetics and art will grow 10 per cent this year to 212 billion euros (S$335.4 billion) from 192 billion euros in 2011.

That would be the third straight year of double-digit growth following two years of contraction in 2008 and 2009 when many countries around the world slid into a deep recession following a banking crisis.

Claudia D'Arpizio, a Bain partner and lead author of the study for Italy's luxury trade association Fondazione Altagamma, called concerns about market weakness ''overblown."