Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the business of both restaurants & similar establishments and retail trade in October 2021 slackened, ascribable to the import-related cases of coronavirus infection reported between late September and early October. There were 76% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments showing a year-on-year decline in receipts in October, a growth of 43 percentage points from September; the corresponding proportions of Chinese Restaurants (86%), Western Restaurants (77%) and Japanese & Korean Restaurants (77%) rose by 64 percentage points, 46 percentage points and 23 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of interviewed retailers recording a year-on-year sales decrease in October grew by 53 percentage points over the preceding month to 78%. All of the interviewed retailers of Leather Goods and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles registered a year-on-year sales decrease. Besides, the corresponding shares of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (86%), Department Stores (83%) and Adults’ Clothing Retailers (86%) surged by 69 percentage points, 67 percentage points and 66 percentage points from September respectively, whereas the share of Supermarkets (22%) dropped by 22 percentage points. For the Business Performance Index (BPI) that reflects the trend of year-on-year changes in business receipts, the values for restaurants & similar establishments (17.4) and retail trade (19.4) were both lower than 50, implying that the business performance of these two industries in October was less satisfactory compared to the same month last year.

As regards the business expectations for November, the proportion of interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting a month-on-month increase in their receipts rose by 49 percentage points from October to 51%, as the pandemic gradually eased in late October. The corresponding shares of Chinese Restaurants (62%) and Western Restaurants (46%) expanded by 62 percentage points and 39 percentage points respectively. Meanwhile, 55% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales increase in November, a growth of 36 percentage points from the preceding month. The corresponding proportions of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (73%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (73%) leapt by 60 percentage points and 55 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 (68.1) and retail trade (71.2), indicating that the respondents from both industries predicted a better business outlook in November than in October.

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.