October Retail Sales Drop 8.8%

The value of total retail sales in October, provisionally estimated at $27.4 billion, fell 8.8% compared with the same month in 2019, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales dropped 9.3% year-on-year.

The value of sales of electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified decreased 24.4%.

This was followed by sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (-6.5% in value); jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (-26.6%), wearing apparel (-11.2%), medicines and cosmetics (-39.5%), fuels (-3.7%), footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (-8.2%), Chinese drugs and herbs (-15.4%), and optical shops (-14.7%).

On the other hand, the value of sales of commodities in supermarkets rose 2.6%. This was followed by sales of commodities in department stores (+11.7% in value), other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (+19.8%), motor vehicles and parts (+13.1%), furniture and fixtures (+13.0%), and books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (+0.2%).

The Government said the year-on-year decline in retail sales narrowed in October as consumption sentiment improved amid the stable epidemic situation in that month.

It noted that a lower base of comparison also contributed to the improvement.

Looking ahead, with the fourth wave of the local COVID-19 epidemic spreading widely and quickly, the business environment of the retail trade may deteriorate again in the near term.

The Government will monitor the developments closely.