SM malls see strong Christmas sales even in the aftermath of two destructive typhoons as well as the financial crisis at the beginning of the year, according to Hans Sy, president of the country’s biggest mall operator, SM Prime Holdings Inc.

Sy said about half of SM revenues are derived during the Christmas shopping months of November and December. The rest are spread in the 10-month period.

Sy said remittances from overseas Filipinos would continue to push Christmas shopping sales this year.

According to Sy, typical purchases during Christmas are clothes and toys. Food sales keep cash registers ringing well into the last week of Christmas for noche buena fare.

Sy said after the strong typhoons, SM shoppers stuck it out with basic necessities but admitted a little slowdown on food.

SM malls, he said, did not feel much of the impact of the typhoons as well as the price control implemented thereafter.

In fact, he said, SM saw a lot of purchases of clothes and appliances as replacements for those destroyed by the typhoons.

‘We did not feel the impact of the typhoons that much because they only hit Luzon. Price controls were only imposed on basic goods, and we did not see that as a problem,’ Sy said.

SM Prime owns SM Supermalls which operates over 35 shopping centers in the Philippines, including its joint mall project with Keppel Land, The Podium and three malls in China.

SM Supermalls attract 2.8 million people daily and has about 11,000 tenants.

Remittances increased 8.6 percent in September to $1.4 billion, pushing the nine-month figure to $12.8 billion, up 4.2 percent from the same period last year and the central bank remittances could rise even further.

SM Prime is building five malls in 2010 of which one is in China. Its 36th mall opened last Friday in Rosario, Cavite.