Restaurant receipts rose 3% to $31.5b in Q1

Non-Chinese restaurants saw $9.58m in receipts.

Hong Kong restaurants open the year on strong footing as the value of total receipts, provisionally estimated at $31.5b, edged up 3% YoY in Q1, data from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) revealed.

Over the same period, the provisional estimate of the value of total purchases by restaurants increased 3.1% to $10b.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total restaurant receipts inched up 0.5% YoY in Q1.

Total receipts of Chinese restaurants dipped 0.6% in value to $13.36m and 2.7% in volume YoY after analysing by type of restaurants. Meanwhile, the total receipts of non-Chinese restaurants rose 4.8% in value to $9.58m and 2.4% in volume YoY.

Similarly, total receipts of fast food shops grew 5.8% in value to $5.9m and 2.8% in volume YoY, whilst total receipts of bars advanced 2.6% in value to $399,000 and 0.4% in volume.

“As for miscellaneous eating and drinking places, total receipts increased 11.2% in value and 7% in volume,” C&SD noted.

Based on the seasonally adjusted series, the provisional estimate of total restaurant receipts increased 3.9% in value and 2.8% in volume YoY in Q1.

On an MoM basis, C&SD provisionally estimated that the value of total receipts of the restaurants sector edged up 6.7%, 0.8% and 1.4%, respectively in January, February and March 2019, compared with the corresponding months in 2018.

“After discounting the effect of price changes, it was provisionally estimated that the volume of total restaurant receipts increased by 3.8% in January 2019, but decreased by 1.3% and 1%, respectively in February and March 2019, compared with the corresponding months a year earlier,” the agency added.