Hong Kong's retail sales plunged 36.1 percent in April from a year earlier, showing a slight improvement from a 42 percent year-on-year fall recorded in March — as the coronavirus crisis begins to ease in the city.
Retail sales by value fell to HK$24.1 billion($3.11 billion), marking the 15th month of consecutive falls in the hard-hit retail sector, according to data released on Monday by the Census and Statistics Department. The decline is better than market expectations predicting a 40 percent drop.
The business environment for retail trade in Hong Kong remained challenging. The coronavirus pandemic has also brought inbound tourism to a standstill. Adverse labor market conditions and other uncertainties continue to affect consumer sentiment
A government spokesman
For the first four months of this year taken together, the value of total retail sales decreased by 35.3 percent compared with the same period in 2019. Two straight months — with declines greater than 40 percent in February and March — marks an unprecedented period of weakness.
In terms of volume, retail sales also dropped 37.5 percent, compared with a 44 percent fall in March.
Sales of most categories of retail goods saw declines. The plunge in the value of luxury gifts, including jewelry, watches and clocks, reached 76.6 percent — the most significant drop. Only the value of sales of commodities in supermarkets rose 14.4 percent.
A government spokesman said in a statement that the year-on-year decline in retail sales remained very large in April, although not as big as they had been in March. This reflected the impact COVID‑19 and anti-epidemic measures were still having on consumption- and tourism-related activities.
The spokesman said the business environment for retail trade in Hong Kong remained challenging. The coronavirus pandemic has also brought inbound tourism to a standstill. Adverse labor market conditions and other uncertainties continue to affect consumer sentiment.
The city’s retail sector has always relied on inbound tourists — especially those from the Chinese mainland. However, tourists who fueled past economic rebounds are unlikely to come to the rescue of the retail sector this time due to travel restrictions. Visitor arrivals in April dropped massively to 4,125 — down from 5.58 million, the Hong Kong Tourism Board revealed.
Hong Kong International Airport started to handle transiting passengers on Monday, as part of the relaxation of travel restrictions imposed to combat the pandemic. However, transiting through the airport to and from mainland will not be allowed yet.
The no-entry restriction for non-Hong Kong residents from overseas also remains unchanged.
