In this Jan 4, 2020 photo, staff members are seen in a Louis Vuitton store in the Times Square shopping mall in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong. (PHILIP FONG / AFP)

HONG KONG – The value of total retail sales in Hong Kong in September, provisionally estimated at $28.0 billion, increased by 7.3 percent year-on-year, official data show. 

Provisional estimates show the value of total retail sales in the first nine months of 2021 rose by 8 percent compared with the same period in 2020, the latest retail sales figures released by the Census and Statistics Department on Tuesday showed.

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“For the third quarter as a whole, it also rose by 7.3 percent, partly reflecting the boosting effect of the Consumption Voucher Scheme,” a government spokesman said.

The stable local epidemic and improving employment and income conditions, together with the Consumption Voucher Scheme, should remain supportive to the retail sector in the near term.

Spokesman, HKSAR Government

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the growth rate was 3.7 percent in the third quarter, added the spokesman.

Of the total retail sales value – provisionally estimated at $2.3 billion – last month, online sales accounted for 8 percent, increasing by 30.5 percent year-on-year. For the first nine months taken together, the value of online retail sales increased by 43.5 percent compared with the same period last year.

The value of sales of commodities in supermarkets decreased by 4.9 percent in September year-on-year, followed by sales in department stores (-11.6 percent), furniture and fixtures (-1.3 percent), books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (-6.4 percent), footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (-4.2 percent), and Chinese drugs and herbs (-10.9 percent).

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“The stable local epidemic and improving employment and income conditions, together with the Consumption Voucher Scheme, should remain supportive to the retail sector in the near term.” 

The virtually frozen inbound tourism will continue to constrain the extent of revival, the spokesman added.