Retail sales may be down but Hong Kong restaurant sales rose by 3 percent in the first quarter of this year.
The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) provisionally estimates the value of restaurants receipts at HK$31.5 billion, while the value of purchases by restaurants increased by 3.1 percent to $10 billion.
After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of restaurant receipts rose by 0.5 percent compared with a year earlier.
By comparison, Hong Kong retail sales for the quarter fell by 1.2 percent.
Analyzed by restaurant type, Chinese restaurant sales decreased by 0.6 percent in value and by 2.7 percent in volume. Total receipts of non-Chinese restaurants increased by 4.8 percent in value and by 2.4 percent in volume. Fast food shop sales rose by 5.8 percent in value and by 2.8 percent in volume.
Sales in bars rose by 2.6 percent in value and by 0.4 percent in volume, while “miscellaneous eating and drinking places” saw sales rise by 11.2 percent in value and by 7 percent in volume.
C&SD also released figures for restaurant receipts and purchases for each month during the quarter. Receipts rose by 6.7 percent in January, by 0.8 percent in February and by 1.4 percent in March, compared with the same months last year.
However, after factoring in inflation, it estimated restaurant sales rose by 3.8 percent in January but decreased by 1.3 percent in February and by 1 percent in March.