Hong Kong's retail sales dropped 0.2% in 2014

It's the first full-year drop since 2003.

Hong Kong retail sales reverted to a downtrend in December 2014, declining 3.9% y/y.

According to a research note from Barclays, ecember’s decline reversed four straight months of retail sales growth from August to November 2014.

Netting out the price effect, retail sales volume in December declined 1.3% y/y, Barclays also noted.

Here's more from Barclays:

Analysed by broad type of retail sales, food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco grew 7.4% y/y, followed by consumer durable goods (+4.1% y/y) and other consumer goods (+0.7% y/y).

On the other hand, sales of jewellery & watches decreased 16.3% y/y, followed by fuels (-10.5%), department stores (-5.3% y/y) and clothing & footwear (-3.7% y/y).

For 2014 as a whole, retail sales declined 0.2% y/y, marking the first full-year retail sales drop since Hong Kong recorded a 2.3% decline in 2003.

A government spokesman said that the fluctuations in retail sales in recent months suggest that consumption sentiment is still rather unsteady.