The latest Hong Kong retail sales data shows the rate of decline is continuing to slow this year.
In May, according to information from the Census and Statistics Department released on the eve of Friday’s holiday, there was a year-on-year decline of 8.4 per cent to a provisionally estimated $35.7 billion. While that is a full percentage point higher than April’s decline, it is lower than the 10.8 per cent decline recorded for the first five months of the year, and the 11.4 per cent for the first four months.
Based on the seasonally adjusted data, the value of total retail sales increased by 1.1 per cent in the three months ending May 2016 compared to the preceding quarter, while the volume of total retail sales increased by 0.3 per cent.
Once again, falling jewellery and luxury goods sales brought the overall figures down, plunging nearly 20 per cent in May.
A government spokesman said retail sales stayed weak in May, with many types of retail outlet still registering year-on-year declines in sales. “This was due partly to the drag from the slowdown in inbound tourism and partly to the more cautious local consumer sentiment amid the subpar economic conditions.”
He said the near-term outlook for retail sales is still subject to a large degree of uncertainty, depending on the performance of inbound tourism as well as the extent to which local consumption sentiment will be affected by the increased external headwinds and heightened financial market volatility.”
After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales in May 2016 decreased by 9 per cent compared with a year earlier. The revised estimate of the volume of total retail sales in April 2016 decreased by 7.7 per cent year-on-year and for the first five months of the year by 10.2 per cent.
By broad retail category – in descending order of value – sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts decreased by 18.7 per cent. This was followed by sales of commodities in department stores (down 5.9 per cent); apparel (down 5.7 per cent); electrical goods and photographic equipment (down 25.2 per cent); miscellaneous consumer durable goods (down 34.6 per cent); footwear and accessories (down 6.3 per cent); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (down 6 per cent); furniture and fixtures (down 6 per cent); Chinese drugs and herbs (down 7.2 per cent); and optical shops (down 8.8 per cent).
Sales of commodities in supermarkets increased by 1.5 per cent, medicines and cosmetics by 0.3 per cent; and food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco by 3.1 per cent.