Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went down by 2.1% month-on-month in June 2024; receipts of Chinese Restaurants fell by 6.4% whereas those of Western Restaurants rose by 11.5%. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers decreased by 7.8% month-on-month in June; sales of retailers of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery, Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles and Adults' Clothing dropped by 16.1%, 13.3% and 12.4% respectively, whereas sales of Motor Vehicle Retailers grew by 21.3%.

In comparison with June 2023, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments fell by 10.4% in June 2024. Receipts of Japanese & Korean Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants fell by 17.1% and 15.9% respectively. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers slipped by 28.7% year-on-year in June, with significant decline in the sales of Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (-40.3%), Adults' Clothing Retailers (-33.8%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (-30.9%); yet, sales of Motor Vehicle Retailers (+17.8%) recorded a rise.

As regards the business expectations for July, 42% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments forecasted a month-on-month increase in receipts, and the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants reached 60% and 44% respectively. On the other hand, about 17% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in July. For retail trade, 35% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales growth in July, and the corresponding shares for Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers, Department Stores and Motor Vehicle Retailers stood at 60%, 56% and 36% respectively. By contrast, around 20% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-on-month sales decline in July.

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 (62.9) and retail trade (57.5), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in July compared to June.

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.