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Top Biz News

Super-rich have craze for luxuries

By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-03 08:54

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Two women walk past a Louis Vitton advertisement on a road in Wuxi, East China’s Jiangsu province. [CHINA DAILY]

Chinese mainland among world's top buyers of expensive goods

Beijing: A private jet will set you back $20 million, not including the nearly $2 million a year needed to maintain it, but the expense is not enough to stop China's super-rich from acquiring such a "luxurious toy" - along with a slew of other luxury items.

Only some 100 super-rich with assets of at least 1 billion yuan ($143 million) on the Chinese mainland can afford one, said Meng Pengjun, CEO of Luxury Asia Limited China markets.

Last year alone, mainland billionaires bought 15 business jets from Meng's company, almost double the eight sold in 2008, he told China Daily on Tuesday.

He aims to sell 20 business jets on the mainland this year.

"It's feasible, because in just two months this year we've already sold four jets," he said.

Yet the sales of other luxury goods are even brisker in China.

Last year, affluent Chinese lavished $9.4 billion on luxury goods, making China the world's second largest consumer of luxury goods behind Japan, a report by the World Luxury Association said.

China's super-rich bought 27.5 percent of the world's luxury goods last year, it said.

"China will become the largest consumer of luxury goods in the world sooner or later. It's just a matter of time," Meng said.

The booming luxury goods market in China reflects the rise of a newly rich generation, said Ouyang Kun from the World Luxury Association.

China has 825,000 individuals worth more than 10 million yuan and 51,000 individuals with more than 100 million yuan, according to Hurun, a research company that has tracked China's rich and famous for 11 years.

The company found 57 percent of these multi-millionaires spend between 1 million and 3 million yuan a year, and another 18 percent spend more than 3 million yuan a year - and their biggest expenditure is luxury goods.

According to Meng, most luxury goods they buy are gifts.

A rich 45-year-old businessman from Ningbo, Zhejiang province, who declined to reveal his name, said he buys small items like scarves and purses of famous brands, "with price tags intact" for business partners.