Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went up by 19.6% year-on-year in February 2024, with receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops rising by 31.5% and 12.7% respectively; by contrast, receipts of Japanese & Korean Restaurants dropped by 19.2%. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers dropped slightly by 0.8% year-on-year in February; sales of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers and Motor Vehicle Retailers fell by 19.6% and 14.4% respectively, while sales of Supermarkets grew by 21.9%.
In comparison with January, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments increased by 13.1% in February on account of the Lunar New Year. Chinese Restaurants posted notable growth (+28.3%) in receipts, while Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops recorded a decrease (-1.2%). In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 9.2% month-on-month in February; sales of Department Stores, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers and Leather Goods Retailers grew by 19.2%, 17.3% and 15.3% respectively, whereas sales of Motor Vehicle Retailers fell by 35.5%.
As regards the business expectations for March, the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments and retailers generally expected their business to slow after the Lunar New Year holiday. There were 56% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments forecasting a month-on-month drop in receipts in March, and the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Western Restaurants reached 75% and 64% respectively. On the other hand, about 16% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would increase month-on-month in March, and the corresponding proportion for Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops was 36%. For retail trade, 49% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales decline in March, with the corresponding shares for Department Stores (70%), Supermarkets (67%), Leather Goods Retailers (57%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (52%) exceeding 50%. By contrast, around 15% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales growth in March, and the corresponding proportion for Motor Vehicle Retailers was 40%.
The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-on-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was lower than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (29.8) and retail trade (33.0), indicating that the respondents from both industries envisaged a less favourable business outlook in March compared to February.
The sample of the Business Climate Survey on Restaurants & Similar Establishments and Retail Trade comprises 229 restaurants & similar establishments and 161 retailers, which accounted for 53.5% and 70.6% of the respective industry’s receipts in 2019. The Survey results were not extrapolated. As a panel sample of establishments is used in this Survey, the changes in receipts in the reference month as compared to the month of comparison serve as reference indicators of the business performance of restaurants & similar establishments and retailers. The value of the BOI ranges between 0 and 100; an index value above 50 implies that the industry has higher business expectations for the coming month as against the reference month, whereas an index value below 50 indicates the opposite.
