NEW YORK—June 13, 2011: Retail sales of licensed merchandise in the so-called BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, and China — registered a stunning 22.7% increase from 2009 to 2010, according to The Licensing Letter, an independent trade publication. This compares to a 2.2% decline in retail sales of licensed merchandise worldwide, and a 4% drop in the U.S./Canada over the same period.

“Many territories saw their economies turn the corner and begin to come out of the worldwide recession, which helped drive sales of licensed merchandise,” says Ira Mayer, Publisher of The Licensing Letter. “As a result, the 2.2% drop worldwide in 2010 was a significant improvement over the 10.8% decrease in global retail sales that occurred in 2009 compared to 2008.”

Global sales of licensed merchandise totaled $146.54 billion in 2010. The BRIC countries accounted for just shy of 5% of the total.

Licensed merchandise sales grew 19% in Brazil, 45% in Russia (from a very small base), 12% in India, and 25% in Greater China (driven primarily by increases on the mainland).

Much of Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East experienced year-on-year growth, but there continued to be declines in more mature licensing markets, including Japan (down 6%) and Western Europe (down almost 1%), as well as the U.S./Canada.

The performance of individual properties and products vary from these averages within each territory.

The Licensing Letter delivers retail sales data, analysis, news, and contact information to owners and representatives of intellectual property and manufacturers of consumer products based on those properties. The twice-monthly newsletter is published by EPM Communications, Inc.

Media contact: Ira Mayer, Publisher, The Licensing Letter at 1-917-951-0556 or imayer@epmcom.com.