The art trade: another sector China is making its mark. Auction sales in China last year totalled $8.3 bn in 2010, overtaking the UK as the world’s second largest market after the US.

According to the British Art Market Federation, China secured a 23 percent share of the global market, behind the US on 34 percent but ahead of the UK with 22 percent of international sales.Bloomberg reports that the figures are included in a survey to be released later on Monday by the Netherlands-based European Fine Art Foundation three days before the world’s largest art and antiques fair, Tefaf, opens in the Dutch city of Maastricht.

Since 2006, the UK’s share of the global art market has fallen to 22 percent from 27 percent, the BAMF said in a statement. Europe’s share has fallen even more sharply.