Hong Kong's retail sales value dropped 0.9%

Sales value of jewellery fell 3.9%.

The value of total retail sales in January, provisionally estimated at $43.1 billion, was down 0.9% compared to a year ago, the Census & Statistics Department announced.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales decreased 1.4% year-on-year.

The sales value of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts fell 3.9%.

This was followed by apparel (-5.2%); electrical goods and photographic equipment (-24.4%); miscellaneous consumer durable goods (-17.8%); motor vehicles and parts (-9%); furniture and fixtures (-9.4%); and, books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (-0.6%).

The sales value of commodities in supermarkets increased by 5.4%, followed by commodities in department stores (+2.8%); food, alcohol and tobacco (+9.9%); medicines and cosmetics (+2.8%); other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (+12.1%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+4.0%); fuels (+7.6%); Chinese drugs and herbs (+1.5%); and, optical shops (+3.4%).

The department said the year-on-year decline in retail sales was narrower in January.

Looking ahead, retail sales business in the near-term will depend on the performance of inbound tourism and uncertainties in the external environment, it added.