Help Hong Kong’s small traders weather political storm, government urged, as anger and clashes over extradition bill protests rumble on

Hong Kong’s small traders are taking a battering from the widespread political unrest and the government needs to step in and help, a business leader has said.

Simon Wong Ka-wo, president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, estimated shops and restaurants had their business halved during Monday’s citywide strike and later clashes between protesters and police.

Protesters expressed their anger across the city, starting with an organised campaign to grind the transport network to a halt during morning rush hour, before an afternoon of rallies. The day descended into the scenes of violence that have become a recurring part of the summer, with many police stations attacked.

Wong said retail and dining had been hit hard by the day of turmoil, estimating the sectors had lost about 50 per cent of their daily take.

Based on a government estimate of HK$35.2 billion (US$4.5 billion) for retail sales in June, 50 per cent of overall daily retail business would amount to about HK$586 million.

“Generally speaking, many shops and restaurants opened late and closed earlier on Monday due to traffic chaos in the morning and the eruption of clashes in the afternoon in various districts. We believe both sectors lost about 50 per cent of business,” he said.

“For the dining sector alone, we reckon it lost about HK$280 million.”

He said a lot of shops closed very early on Monday out of concerns for their employees’ safety.

“The whole town was very quiet, for example on the streets of Nathan Road in Mong Kok. At 7pm in the upmarket shopping mall Elements in West Kowloon, almost all the shops were closed. The whole town was like a dead city,” he said.

The city’s finance chief on Monday urged protesters to step back from their destabilising actions, warning the city’s economy could plunge into recession if it continued to be rocked by the US-China trade war and escalating turmoil on the streets.

Paul Chan Mo-po’s warning came as Hong Kong recorded economic growth of 0.6 per cent year on year for the second quarter of 2019. Chan said that, in quarter-to-quarter terms, GDP had decreased by 0.3 per cent, pointing out retail sales in June had already slumped by 6.7 per cent.

Predicting retail sales could further plunge by 20 per cent as a lot of mainland Chinese tour groups cancelled visits out of safety concerns, Wong said he had met Chan two days earlier and urged him to introduce measures to help the city’s 340,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). He did not go into details about the kind of help he wanted, saying that was a decision for Chan.

“Most SMEs don’t want to get involved in this political dispute, but now this issue has affected the economy. There is not much we can do. I hope the government can understand our plight,” he said.

Liberal Party lawmaker Peter Shiu Ka-fai, who represents the wholesale and retail sector, said Monday’s turmoil had hit every sector across Hong Kong hard.

“Everybody in the retail sector holds a very dim view of the city’s outlook. They are all pessimistic. From what I’ve heard, the retail sales for luxury goods will drop by 30 per cent in July,” he said.

He pointed out the escalating social unrest had deterred many from visiting the city – especially mainlanders – saying tourist spending had accounted for about a third of retail sales.

“I hope the protesters calm down. If they use coercive methods to fight for their cause, they won’t win public recognition,” Shiu said.

Henry Hui, a employee at a big pharmacy firm in Mong Kok, said his company’s business had dropped by 70 per cent on Monday.

“After 4pm yesterday when clashes erupted in the district, we had only a few customers per hour. Normally we have about 600 to 1,000 customers per day,” he said.

Miss Fung, manager of a jewellery shop in a Mong Kok mall, said she did virtually no business on Monday, as travel chaos made staff late and mall managers forced them to close at 3pm.

However, she said the shop’s business had not been adversely affected over the past two months.

“Our target customers are locals with spending power while mainland Chinese tourists only account for 20 to 30 per cent. Our business has been more or less the same over the past two months.”