Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the business performance of both restaurants & similar establishments and retail trade in August 2021 was affected as local confirmed cases of coronavirus infection were reported at the beginning of the month. There were 33% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments reporting a year-on-year rise in receipts in August, a drop of 31 percentage points from July; the corresponding proportions of Western Restaurants (19%), Chinese Restaurants (39%) and Japanese & Korean Restaurants (12%) declined by 42 percentage points, 36 percentage points and 35 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of interviewed retailers recording a year-on-year sales rise in August (66%) went down by 16 percentage points over the preceding month; the corresponding proportions of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (36%) and Department Stores (50%) fell by 55 percentage points and 25 percentage points from July respectively, while the shares of Motor Vehicle Retailers (46%) and Supermarkets (56%) grew by 16 percentage points and 11 percentage points. For the Business Performance Index (BPI) that reflects the trend of year-on-year changes in business receipts, the value for restaurants & similar establishments (41.9) was lower than 50 in August, indicating that the business performance of the industry was less satisfactory compared to the same month last year. On the other hand, the BPI for retail trade (71.0) was higher than 50, implying that the business of the industry fared better than in August last year.

As regards the business expectations for September, the proportion of interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting a month-on-month increase in their receipts expanded by 42 percentage points from August to 47%, with the corresponding shares of Western Restaurants (54%) and Chinese Restaurants (54%) surging by 50 percentage points and 49 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, 52% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales increase in September, a growth of 36 percentage points from the preceding month. The corresponding proportions of Department Stores (67%) and Leather Goods Retailers (80%) leapt by 67 percentage points and 60 percentage points respectively. The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-on-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was higher than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (66.1) and retail trade (70.9), indicating that the respondents from both industries predicted a more satisfactory business outlook in September than in August.

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 values of the BPI and the BOI range between 0 and 100; an index value above 50 implies that the industry has better business performance in the reference month or higher business expectations for the coming month as against the month of comparison, whereas an index value below 50 indicates the opposite. The Survey results were not extrapolated and only reflect the assessment of the business performance and expectations of the sample restaurants and retailers.