April retail sales in the doldrums

Hong Kong retail sales in April tumbled by 36.1 percent from the year before to HK$24.1 billion.

Retailers are still suffering from the adverse impact of social unrest that began in June last year and the coronavirus that came to haunt the city late December from across the broder.

In March, retail sales slumped by 42.1 percent to HK$23 billion, a revised estimate shows.

The April estimate is provisional, the Census and Statistics Department reported today.

Sales of jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts suffered the most, plunging by 76.6 percent, while apparel dropped by 63.6 percent. Medicines and cosmetics sales skidded by 62.9 percent.

For the first four months, retail sales tumbled by  35.3 percen compared with the same period in 2019, according to provisional estimates.

A government spokesman said  that while the coronavirus epidemic has abated, the business environment for retail trade remains challenging, as the virus has brought inbound tourism to a standstill, and as austere labor market conditions and various uncertainties continue to weigh on consumption sentiment.