You know the Maastricht Art Fair is just around the corner when TEFAF releases it’s report on the art market written by economist Claire McAndrew. The Antiques Trade Gazette says the report sees the art market as £40 billion in 2008 having grown 11% since 2007 despite the precipitous drop in sales after September. Here are some other facts from the report:

• While the US still has 41 per cent of the market and the UK has 30 per cent, France (6%), Germany (3%) and Switzerland (2%) are listed as the only other significant individual countries.

• Indian art sales totalled £203m in 2007, 30 per cent of it generated in India itself, and Russian art selling outside Russia accounted for £583m. Dubai topped the table as the centre for sales in the Middle East, accounting for £125m worth of business.

• How these nations will fare in the coming year is anyone’s guess at the moment, particularly when one considers that a high proportion of the Chinese and Indian totals, for instance, came from transactions in contemporary Chinese and Indian art, markets that have been severely hit by the downturn.

TEFAF study values global art market at £4o billion (Antiques Trade Gazette)