Hong Kong's retail sales down 2.9 pct in March
Xinhua, May 5, 2015 Adjust font size:
Hong Kong's value of total retail sales fell 2.9 percent year-on-year to 38.4 billion HK dollars ( about 4.9 billion U.S. dollars) in March, 2015, the statistics department said here on Tuesday.
The value of sales of jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts lost 18.6 percent in March from a year ago, followed by sales of fuels 16.4 percent, footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories 11.7 percent, Chinese drugs and herbs 8.4 percent and optical shops 5.3 percent.
On the other hand, the value of sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco rose 4.0 percent, followed by sales of electrical goods and photographic equipment 2.8 percent, and books, newspapers, stationery and gifts 2.3 percent.
A government spokesman said the performance of retail sales remained sluggish in March, with most types of retail outlets recording year-on-year declines in sales, conceivably reflecting the slowdown in inbound tourism.
The retail sales performance in the near term is likely to be constrained by the weaker performance of inbound tourism, although the stable labor market conditions should still render support to local consumer sentiment, the spokesman said. Endi