Coronavirus: Hong Kong retail sales drop 23.1 per cent but supermarkets buck trend again
- Retail sales have fallen for 18 months in a row as Covid-19 continues to pummel the sector
- Supermarkets continue to outperform with a 26.5 per cent surge in sales
Consumer spending dropped to HK$26.5 billion (US$3.4 billion) in July, contributing to the 32.1 per cent fall in sales for the first seven months of the year, from the same stretch in 2019, according to provisional figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Tuesday.
“At that time, retail sales were already not so normal,” Tse said. “When we look at the sales value, there is no big improvement … I absolutely can’t say we have bottomed out.”
Most categories recorded a contraction compared to the same period last year, but supermarkets continued to outperform with a 26.5 per cent surge in sales in July. That followed increases of 4.5 per cent in June, 7.3 per cent in May, 14.4 per cent in April, 15.3 per cent in March, and 11.1 per cent in February and January combined.
Tse said residents were inclined to shop at supermarkets because of worries over wet markets after infection clusters were reported at some premises.
