焦点 JNA November/December 2022 | 11 highest increase in sales at 33.1 per cent. Growth persisted in the US retail sector but somehow became stagnant by September, owing to continued price hikes, political unrest and economic instability. Earlier this year, Mastercard SpendingPulse™ said US retail sales are expected to surge during the traditional holiday season of November 1 to December 24, supported by emerging consumer trends. Citing its annual holiday forecast, it predicted US retail sales to grow by 7.1 per cent in 2022 from 2021 and by 18.8 per cent compared to pre-Covid 2019. Jewellery sales alone could soar by 2.2 per cent year on year and by 33.4 per cent from 2019 during the holidays. Mastercard SpendingPulse™ measures in-store and online retail sales across all forms of payment. Hong Kong, which only eased its strict pandemic restrictions in late September this year, witnessed fluctuations in jewellery sales, characterised by doubledigit drops in February to April due to a sudden surge in Covid cases; and spikes, driven by government-led consumption vouchers. By August, improving fundamentals in Hong Kong lifted overall sales, with the jewellery category inching up by 4.3 per cent year on year to HK$3.3 billion (around US$420.4 million). From January to August, jewellery sales were up 0.8 per cent year on year to HK$24.89 billion (around US$3.17 billion). By comparison, jewellery sales reached a record high of HK$11.53 billion (around US$1.46 billion) in December 2013. Hong Kong’s resurgence Industry leader Lawrence Ma, president of the Diamond Federation of Hong Kong, China, said the city state remains an important market and business platform for gems and jewellery. While full recovery is yet to be achieved, Hong Kong is poised to regain its footing in the international trade. Jewellery retail and exports are strengthening while relaxed travel restrictions could bode well for tourism and business travel, especially from mainland China. Government data showed that visitors from China reached over 51 million in 2018 and 43 million in 2019. Mainland visitor arrivals plummeted to 2.7 million at the height of Covid in 2020 and to 65,000 in 2021. The number for January to August 2022 reached 150,309, up 284.5 per cent from the same period last year. “If Hong Kong’s Covid policies are further relaxed, we can resume at least 70 per cent of normal operations. We are also waiting for China to ease pandemic restrictions,” noted Ma. “We are however facing other issues on the political and macroeconomic front like inflation, supply chain difficulties, unsteady prices and interest rate hikes.” Another challenge to local retailers is the potential loss of business opportunities as consumers redirect their disposable funds from retail shopping to travelling and dining out. Exports to major markets like the US were particularly encouraging, noted Ma. As of August 2022, exports of jewellery, goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ wares rose 7 per cent to HK$22.14 billion (around US$2.82 billion). Over the last few months, shipments to Southeast Asia also increased as markets like Singapore and the Philippines started to open up. Sparkling trade Market appetite for diamonds continued to weather industry headwinds, thanks to robust consumer demand for diamond jewellery. At De Beers Group, rough diamond sales reached US$3.3 billion in the first half of the year. The average realised price rose 58 per cent to US$213 per carat, driven by the sale of a larger proportion of higher-value rough diamonds as well as a 28 per cent growth in De Beers’ rough diamond price index. While the Russia-Ukraine war negatively affected industry sentiment at the outset as the trade assessed its potential impact on supply and demand, consumer 8.2% Annual inflation rate in the US in September 2022 2022年9月美国的年通胀率
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