A woman leaves a shop that sells COVID-19 test kits in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po area on Feb 27, 2022, as yet another record high number of new coronavirus infections were recorded in the city. (BERTHA WANG / AFP)
HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s retail sales fell 14.6 percent to HK$25.2 billion ($3.22 billion) in February from a year earlier after 12 consecutive months of growth as the city implemented tough restrictions to battle the virus, the Census and Statistics Department reported on Thursday.
It is the biggest decline since July 2020, when sales dropped 23.1 percent. Taking the first two months into account to remove the Lunar New Year effect, the value of retail sales saw a year-on-year decline of 4.9 percent.
On Sunday, Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on his blog that the economy of the city is set to contract in the first quarter, breaking four quarters of recovery.
Online sales, which increased by 50 percent compared with the same month in 2021, was provisionally estimated at HK$2.7 billion and accounted for 10.8 percent of total retail sales value, the data showed
A rapid worsening of the fifth wave of the local COVID-19 outbreak and further tightening of anti-pandemic measures in response led to a drastic fall in people flow and weaker consumption sentiment, according to the government’s spokesman.
Meanwhile, Annie Tse Yau On-yee, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, forecast that the flow of people will return to normal in April as the government lifts its flight bans and eases restrictions on social activities.
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In volume terms, retail sales in February dropped 17.6 percent on a yearly basis. For the first two months of 2022, the provisional estimate of the total retail sales decreased by 7.6 percent in volume compared with the same period a year ago.
Compared with the same period in 2021, the sales in sectors such as jewelry, watches, clocks, and valuable gifts, which relied heavily on offline transactions and tourists from the Chinese mainland, plunged 33.6 percent in February, and decreased 13.1 percent in the first two months of 2022.
On the other hand, the value of commodities in supermarkets increased by 8.2 percent in the first two months of 2022 compared with a year earlier.
Online sales, which increased by 50 percent compared with the same month in 2021, was provisionally estimated at HK$2.7 billion and accounted for 10.8 percent of total retail sales value, the data showed.
The revised estimate of online retail sales in January increased by 30.7 percent year-on-year.
While the local epidemic has shown signs of easing of late, the retail sector will continue to face notable pressure in the near term, the government spokesman said.
Referring to various relief measures rolled out by the government, the spokesman said: “The upcoming disbursal of the new round of electronic consumption vouchers in April should also provide some support to the retail sector.”
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The Employment Support Scheme of the government might also give some help to retailers, said Tse.
