HONG KONG, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong's value of total retail sales in November 2020, provisionally estimated at 28.7 billion HK dollars (about 3.7 billion U.S. dollars), decreased by 4 percent compared with the same month in 2019, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced on Monday.
After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales in November 2020 decreased by 4.7 percent compared with a year earlier.
Analyzed by broad type of retail outlet in descending order of the provisional estimate of the value of sales and comparing November 2020 with November 2019, the value of sales of commodities in department stores decreased by 12.4 percent.
On the other hand, the value of sales of electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified increased by 22 percent in November 2020 over a year earlier.
Based on the seasonally adjusted series, the provisional estimate of the value of total retail sales increased by 5.6 percent in the three months ending November 2020 compared with the preceding three-month period, while the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales increased by 5.4 percent.
A spokesman for the HKSAR government said that the year-on-year decline in retail sales narrowed further in November 2020, primarily due to the notable increase in sales at retail outlets of consumer durable goods.
Looking ahead, the spokesman said that as inbound tourism remains at a standstill, and the fourth wave of the local epidemic has weighed on local consumption sentiment since the latter part of November 2020, the business environment of the retail trade will remain challenging in the near term. (1 U.S. dollar = 7.75 HK dollars) Enditem
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