Growth in luxury goods slow but still sustained. - Despite less robust growth, the luxury goods industry has confirmed that it is in good health. According to the new survey by Bain & Company published on 14 October, the global market in luxury goods is expected to reach a figure of €223 billion in 2014, as opposed to the €217 billion reached in 2013. Bain & Company consultants is therefore forecasting 5% growth this year, as opposed to +7% in 2013. The study illustrates that the luxury goods market is undergoing a less robust pace of growth but that this growth is still sustained. The number of luxury good product consumers is currently estimated to stand at 330 million but by 2020 it is expected to have gone beyond the 400 million benchmark. Negative factors for growth in the luxury goods market include the recurrent weakness in the European economy, as well as the crises in the Crimea and Ukraine and demonstrations in Hong Kong. These have been largely compensated for by the appetite of Chinese consumers, the vitality of the consumer market in the US and a Japanese market that is once again experiencing its taste for luxury goods, according to the report by Bain & Company. Fifty million Chinese customers only account for 14% of global clientele in the sector but account for 28% of all spending. They are the biggest consumers in the world of luxury goods, together with those in the Middle East. (IL)