Retail sales down 19.4% to $36.2b in December

Jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts continue to lead the decline.

Hong Kong’s retail sales crashed 19.4% YoY in December 2019 to $36.2b, according to the Census & Statistics Department (C&SD). Likewise, its volume also fell by 21% YoY.

The value of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts sales continue to decline as it slid 36.7% YoY. This is followed by commodities in supermarkets (-3.1% in value), wearing apparel (-22.1%), commodities in department stores (-25.3%), electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, medicines and cosmetics (-29.9%), footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (-20.4%), books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (-14.8%), and optical shops (-19.3%).

The report stated that retailers continue to be impacted by local social incidents on consumption and that tourism-related activities remained severe. The novel coronavirus infection threat is heavily weighing on inbound tourism and local consumption sentiment as well.

In contrast, the sales value of fuels rose 13.5% over the same period.

As for its annual figure, retail sales slipped 11.1% YoY in value to $431.2b and 12.3% YoY in volume. Its Q4 2019 sales volume figure also crashed 24.1% YoY, which is said to be the largest quarterly decline recorded.

The business environment for retail trade has become even more difficult recently, with the novel coronavirus infection threat heavily weighing on inbound tourism and local consumption sentiment.