February Retail Sales Plunge A Record 44 Percent

Retail sales in Hong Kong plummeted by 44 percent in February from a year earlier, making it the largest ever slump on record.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam warned on Tuesday morning that Hong Kong is now taking an "unprecedented" hit because of the Covid-19 outbreak, and said the government has been making preparations to provide more support for businesses badly affected by the outbreak.

Provisional government data published in the afternoon revealed the value of total retail sales last month plunged year-on-year to HK$22.7 billion, widening from a revised 21.5 percent decrease in January.

The total volume of retail sales for the first two months of the year was down by almost 34 percent compared to the same period last year.

Sales of luxury items like jewellery and watches were among the hardest hit in February, plunging by 78.5 percent, followed by clothing retailers who saw sales drop by 71.2 percent, and department stores which saw sales down by 58 percent.

Sales of other types of goods also dropped, except for supermarkets, where they grew by 12.2 percent.

A government spokesperson said that the year-on-year fall in retail sales widened sharply in February, and reflected the heavy blow to tourism and consumption-related activities caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The spokesperson said the fall in February was the steepest on record for a single month.

He warned that the retail business will remain "extremely austere in the near term".