Sales of luxury goods in China will reach $5 billion in 2009, according to a report released yesterday by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs. That is a striking increase from 2008, when the total was $3 billion, Chinanews.com reported.

The luxury market in China is still expanding despite a decrease in overall global demand as a result of the global economic crisis, the report said.

China's current luxury consumption accounts for 25 percent of global luxury consumption, the report noted. That means China has likely passed the United States to become the world's second largest consumer of luxury goods after Japan.