Retail sales across all categories in Hong Kong continued to display negative growth, with the Census & Statistics Dept of the HK government reporting a 5.5% decline in total sales by value and a 5.6% decline in volume terms year-on-year for the month of November 2016. A commentary on the figures, released by the Hong Kong Retail Management Association (HKRMA), notes that sales for the month were provisionally estimated at HK $35.99 billion.

Retail sales have shown a year-on-year decline since March 2015 according to the data released by the department. The decline in November was higher than the fall recorded in the previous two months of the year, with sales falling by 4% and 2.9% in September and October respectively.

The all important Chinese New Year holiday season, which provides a boost to retail, takes place in end January – early February 2017.

The slowdown continued to affect higher end categories and the sales of jewellery, watches and other valuable gifts decreased by 14.4% in November year-on-year, government figures showed, though the category had reported zero growth in the preceding month. The cateories that recorded larger year on year declines were miscellaneous consumer durable goods (-15.2%); electrical goods & photographic equipment (-27.3%) and motor vehicles & parts (-15.5%).

For the first eleven months of 2016 taken together, the value of total retail sales decreased by 8.6% and by 7.6% in terms of volume year on year, the government statistics indicated.

Reports state that the government is monitoring the situation closely, particularly with regard to inbound tourism which has dropped significantly over the last year and other ‘external uncertainties’ that could affect local consumer sentiment.

The HKRMA believes that overall retail sales will be down by about 7-8% for the year 2016.