The total sales of jewelry and watches in the US in May showed an annual increase of 5.6% and reached $ 7.192 billion, Rapaport reported citing preliminary government data.
Data on sales for April did not change, but the data for March were revised downward. Preliminary results of sales of jewelry and watches in the first five months of the year show an increase of 3.4% to $ 29.95 billion.
Sales growth since the beginning of the year was consistently small and kept within a few percent, however in May the growth was the most significant since November last of the year.
It is reported that sales of jewelry and watches grew by 3.8% in December, by 3.9% in January, by 3.7% in February and March and by 2.3% in April.
The US consumer price index for jewelry (CPI) in May fell by 4.3%.
Sales of watches in May rose by 6.8% to $ 871 million, and CPI for this category of goods decreased by 0.9%.
According to Rapaport, jewelery sales in the US increased 3.1% to $ 26.394 billion from January to May, while sales of watches increased 3.9% to $ 3.556 billion. Sales growth rates lag behind the average for 2013, according to which the sales of jewelry increased by 7%, and sales of watches by 8%.