Jewelry, Watch Sales Soar 64% in Macao

Macao's Statistics and Census Service determined that the country's second-quarter retail sales rose 30 percent year on year to $1.6 billion (MOP 12.74 billion), for the three months that ended on June 30. When accounting for price increases, the volume of retail sales for the second quarter increased by 22 percent year on year, Rapaport reported.
Sales of jewelry, watches and clocks performed extremely well, surging 64 percent year on year to $513 million (MOP 4.10 billion). The jewelry and watches category accounted for 32 percent of Macao's total retail sales in the second quarter.
The government observed that value of retail sales for the second quarter decreased by 3 percent compared with the first quarter and that was due in part to substantial declines in revenue from adult clothing, communication equipment, leather goods and department stores. Motor vehicle sales, however, soared during the first half of 2012 as they have for the past two years.
Eighty-one percent of retailers anticipate that sales will either increase or remain the same in the third quarter compared with 2011, reflecting a four percentage point increase from one year ago. Nineteen percent of retailers expect sales to decline, and that figure was down from 23 percent in 2011.