Chow Tai Fook Sees Hong Kong, Macao Sales Surge as Gold Jewelry Leads

Chow Tai Fook’s sharpest recovery came from the markets that matter most to jewelry traffic: Hong Kong and Macau, where retail sales value jumped 58.5% and same-store sales rose 40.1% in the three months ended March 31, 2026. That surge mattered because it cut against an otherwise mixed quarter, with group retail sales value down 1.5% and the Chinese Mainland off 8.2%. The message for diamond jewelry is plain: demand is returning first where customers are actually walking into stores.

The rebound was led by gold. Chow Tai Fook said weight-based gold jewelry outperformed gem-set jewelry as shoppers adjusted to high gold prices, but the category did not simply become more expensive, it became more valuable at the counter. The average selling price of weight-based gold jewelry in Hong Kong and Macau climbed to HK$21,200 from HK$13,600 a year earlier. Same-store sales of weight-based gold jewelry rose 47% in Hong Kong and Macau, while the mainland managed only 7%. Gem-set jewelry also showed a split market: same-store sales rose 39% in Hong Kong, but fell 10% on the mainland.

That divergence is the real trade takeaway. Hong Kong and Macau contributed just 16.3% of group retail sales value in the quarter, versus 83.7% from the Chinese Mainland, yet they delivered the growth. Hong Kong same-store sales rose 36.8% and Macau climbed 50.1%, a sign that traffic-sensitive markets are recovering faster than the broader mainland business. The company said the improvement was driven by positive consumption sentiment and strong customer traffic, and that is exactly where diamond retailers should look for the next turn: first in stores with cross-border footfall, tourist traffic and a willingness to trade up.

Chow Tai Fook also broadened its mix with the launch of CTF Accessories and CTF Home, while closing a net 124 underperforming locations in the quarter. That combination of sharper store discipline and category extension fits the wider transformation Henry Cheng has pushed for, after the company opened five new image stores in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wuhan and Xi’an in FY2025. In that same year, revenue fell 17.5%, but gross margin expanded 550 basis points to 29.5% and operating profit rose 9.8% to HK$14.746 billion, a reminder that gold’s price power can support margins even when volumes wobble. For jewelers, this quarter says the recovery is not broad and even. It is starting where traffic is strongest, where gold still pulls the customer in, and where premium buying is returning one storefront at a time.