Hong Kong retail sales continue to fall

Hong Kong retail sales fell again in January – by a modest 0.9 per cent.

However, a spokesman from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) warned the figures may be have been affected by the earlier timing of Lunar New Year which fell at the end of January. he cautioned reading too much into the data until the combined January-February figures this year can be compared with last.

In volume terms – taking into account the effect of inflation – sales fell by 1.4 per cent.

“Looking ahead, the near-term outlook for the retail sales business will continue to depend on the performance of inbound tourism and on whether local consumer sentiment would be affected by the various uncertainties in the external environment,” he said.

The value of total retail sales in January 2017 was provisionally estimated at HK$43.1 billion. The decline of 0.9 per cent was substantially lower than December’s 2.9 per cent decline – but January’s data could have been buoyed by spending on gifts and inbound tourist spending over the holiday period.

“Local consumer spending normally attains a seasonal high before the festival. As the Lunar New Year fell on January 28 this year but on February 8 last year, the year-on-year comparison of the figures for January 2017 with those for January 2016 might have been affected by this factor to a certain extent.”

Broken down into broad type of retail outlet in descending order of impact on the overall figure, sales of jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts decreased by 3.9 per cent. This was followed by sales of apparel down 5.2 per cent, electrical goods and photographic equipment down 24.4 per cent, miscellaneous consumer durable goods  down 17.8 per cent, furniture  down 9.4 per cent and books, newspapers, stationery and gifts down 0.6 per cent.

Categories to show an increase were supermarket sales up 5.4 per cent, department store sales up 2.8 per cent, food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco up 9.9 per cent, medicines and cosmetics up 2.8 per cent, ‘other consumer goods’ up 12.1per cent, footwear and accessories up 4 per cent, Chinese drugs and herbs up 1.5 per cent and eyewear up 3.4 per cent.

After seasonal adjustment, the C&SD estimated the total value of retail sales decreased by 3.3 per cent in the three months ending January 2017, compared with the preceding three-months.