Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that value of retail sales for the third quarter of 2020 totalled MOP8.92 billion, down by 50.7% year-on-year but up by 29.4% quarter-to-quarter. After removing the effect of price changes, the sales volume index decreased by 50.1% year-on-year.

Among the major retail trade activities, sales values of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (-70.0%), Adults’ Clothing (-65.4%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-62.0%) registered substantial year-on-year declines. In terms of volume of retail sales, sales volume indices of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (-72.5%), Adults’ Clothing (-62.3%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (-61.2%) decreased year-on-year. For the first three quarters of 2020, value of retail sales dropped by 52.2% year-on-year to MOP26.99 billion, and the sales volume index fell by 51.9%.

Value of retail sales in the third quarter of 2020 increased by 29.4% as compared with the revised figure (MOP6.90 billion) in the second quarter, with sales values of Chinese Food Products (+142.4%) and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+135.8%) recording significant increases. In addition, sales values of Leather Goods and Department Stores surged by 65.4% and 57.9% respectively, whereas sales value of Supermarkets dropped by 2.2%. Meanwhile, volume index of retail sales went up by 31.8% quarter-to-quarter; the sales volume indices of Chinese Food Products (+173.1%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery (+142.3%), Leather Goods (+67.4%) and Department Stores (+60.6%) showed notable growth, while the sales volume index of Supermarkets went down by 1.7%.

In respect of retailers’ comments, 73.3% of the retailers anticipated a year-on-year decrease in sales volume in the fourth quarter of 2020, while 24.7% expected the sales volume to stay stable and 2.0% forecasted an increase. Meanwhile, 69.1% of the retailers predicted that the retail prices would remain steady year-on-year in the fourth quarter, 28.9% foresaw a decrease and 2.0% expected an increase. As compared with the third quarter of 2020, there were 53.9% of the retailers envisaging sluggish business in the fourth quarter, whereas retailers expecting stable performance (26.7%) and those anticipating a favourable outlook (19.4%) together accounted for 46.1% of the total.