Hong Kong's combined retail category for jewelry, watches and valuable gifts rose 20.3% year over year in September to HK$4.706 billion, approximately US$603 million, IDEX reported on Nov. 5 in its reading of government data. Sales volume in the category rose 7%.
Nine months of growth
For the first nine months of the year, the category's value reached HK$45.82 billion, up 22.4%. Hong Kong's total retail sales rose 6.4% in September, so the category grew well ahead of the overall market.
What the category does and does not show
The official figure combines jewelry, watches and valuable gifts in a single category. It does not establish that jewelry alone or watches alone rose 20.3%, and it does not show which of the three drove the increase. The gap between 20.3% growth in value and 7% growth in volume indicates higher spending per item across the category, without identifying the products behind it.
