Hong Kong's Retail Sales Volume Falls 2.8 Pct in November

The global economic downturn had cooled off the retail sales in Hong Kong, a free port known for its convenience for shopping.

The value of total retail sales in the cosmopolis moved up only 1.1 percent over a year earlier to provisionally estimated 20.5 billion HK dollars (2.65 billion U.S. dollars) in November, revealed the Census and Statistics Department's latest readings here Friday.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, however, the volume of total retail sales fell 2.8 percent over a year earlier in November.

The Census and Statistics Department said the global economic slowdown had put drag on consumer spending and inbound tourism in Hong Kong, with the volume of retail sales posting another month of year-on-year decline in November.

However, the department said, retail business had shown some improvement in clothing and footwear outlets and in department stores, compared with the situation in October.

The positive boost from the festive mood and the rebound in inbound tourism will probably be reflected in some relative improvement in retail business in December, the department said.

The further liberalization measures by the central government in China to facilitate visits of residents from the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong will also render some support to the retail businesses in Hong Kong, it said.

Comparing with the figures in November 2007, the volume of fuels sales increased the most in November, up by 9.3 percent year on year. Sales of furniture and fixtures rose 5.8 percent while the sales of commodities in department stores gained 2.8 percent. Electrical goods and photographic equipment sales went up 1.3 percent.

The volume of vehicle and parts sales fell the most, plunging 36.6 percent from the same period of 2007. Sales of footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories dropped 5.5 percent in volume.

The sales of jewelry, watches, clocks and valuable gifts, miscellaneous consumer goods, miscellaneous consumer durable goods, food, and commodities in supermarkets were down.

Source: CRIEnglish