国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

Business / Economy

Depreciation triggers frenzy among consumers

By LI XIANG/ZHOU HUIYIN (China Daily) Updated: 2014-12-19 07:31

Depreciation triggers frenzy among consumers

Consumers at a mall in central Moscow on Monday. Russians are feeling the pinch from the slumping rouble and snapping up electronics, furniture and cars before prices soar.[Photo/Agencies]

Crazy was the word Yu Wenting used to describe the past few days in Moscow as she hurried to department stores and supermarkets to purchase goods ranging from milk powder to luxury watches and jewelry on request from her friends and relatives in China.

The dramatic fall in the rouble value has not only sparked a shopping frenzy for local residents but also for cash-rich Chinese buyers who would not miss any opportunity to take advantage of the price gap for luxury items inside and outside China.

Yu, who lives and works in Russia, said she managed to snap up 10 iPhone 6 models for her clients who ordered them through the popular Chinese social networking platform WeChat before Apple Inc shut down its online stores in Russia after the rouble's drastic depreciation.

Moscow's high-end department stores are packed with Chinese shoppers and foreign tourists, browsing Western brands such as Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton, Yu said.

"Luxury goods at some stores were already sold out and the shelves are empty now. Moscow is crazy and so are the Chinese," she said.

The rouble dropped sharply on Tuesday to a record low of 80 per dollar before recovering to around 67. Although the Russian central bank has intervened in the foreign exchange market to shore up the currency, the rouble has lost nearly half of its value against the dollar this year.

The falling rouble is also triggering a sudden surge in Chinese tourism to Russia.

A border check post in Heihe, a city located on the China-Russia border in Heilongjiang province, reported a rising number of Chinese tourists to Russia over the past week.

Chinese tourists now make up more than 60 percent of the daily 2,000 visitors crossing the border in Heihe, according to data from the check post. Previously, the majority of visitors were Russian tourists to China.

Li Jian, a Beijing resident, said: "I am thinking of spending the New Year holiday in Moscow although winter is not necessarily the best season. I assume traveling expenses in Russia are cheaper now as the currency is falling."

But Chinese shoppers and tourists who are planning trips to Russia could end up disappointed as the rouble staged a solid rebound on Wednesday after the Russian government said it would not hesitate to inject dollar liquidity to bolster the currency.

Luxury brands have resorted to price hikes or suspension of supply to offset the value loss of their sales. Jewelry brand Cartier has reportedly raised its Russian prices by as much as 50 percent.

Other retailers including Apple, Renault SA and McDonald's Corp have also been raising prices after the rouble's plunge. Some international firms have suspended supplies of luxury items at least until the currency stabilizes, Bloomberg reported.

Hot Topics

Editor's Picks
...
莒南县| 班戈县| 密山市| 明溪县| 京山县| 东台市| 阜平县| 洛扎县| 聊城市| 延庆县| 上思县| 鸡西市| 嵩明县| 寻乌县| 班玛县| 肥城市| 门源| 常宁市| 凌海市| 海南省| 桦甸市| 万山特区| 城口县| 东台市| 宝兴县| 故城县| 庆云县| 子长县| 繁峙县| 驻马店市| 伽师县| 阜宁县| 郴州市| 奇台县| 曲沃县| 伊川县| 扶绥县| 洛川县| 东丽区| 土默特左旗| 都兰县|