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Hong Kong Sales Drop Significantly
Nov 3, 2019 8:56 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Sales of jewelry and other luxury items in Hong Kong plummeted
in September as protests and unrest in the municipality hit tourism and
consumption.
Revenue from jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable
gifts dropped 41% year on year to HKD 3.63 billion ($463.6 million) during the
month, the municipality’s Census and Statistics Department reported Friday.
That result was only a slight improvement on last month’s 47% drop, the largest
monthly decline for jewelry since the department began publishing results in
2005. Sales across all retail categories slipped 18% to HKD 29.87 billion
($3.81 billion).
Pro-democracy demonstrations have escalated since June, hindering business at luxury stores, depressing inbound
tourism and weakening local spending. The number of tourists visiting Hong Kong
was down 34% to 3.1 million in September, the Hong Kong Tourism Board reported.
Of those, 2.4 million came from mainland China, a decline of 35% over the same
period last year. Hong Kong slipped into recession as the unrest caused the economy to slow in the third quarter, said Paul Chan, the municipality’s financial secretary.
In the first nine months of the year, retail sales of
jewelry, watches, clocks and other valuable gifts slid 17% to HKD 53.71 billion
($6.85 billion). Sales in all retail categories for the January-to-September
period fell 7% to HKD 334.96 billion ($42.74 billion).
By volume, the overall retail decline for the nine-month
period hit a near-record low.
“Retail sales saw another month of significant year-on-year
decline in September, as the local social incidents continued to take a heavy
toll on inbound tourism and consumption-related activities,” a government
spokesperson noted. “For the third quarter as a whole, retail sales volume fell
by 19.5% year on year, almost on par with the record decline in the third
quarter of 1998.”
The government expects weakness in the market to continue as
conditions persist, it explained.
“As protests involving violence continue to deter tourists
and reduce local consumption, and the subdued economic outlook also dampens
consumer sentiment, the performance of retail sales is likely to stay weak in
the near term,” the spokesperson added.
Image: Hong Kong harbor. (Shutterstock)
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Tags:
Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong protests, hong kong retail, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Paul Chan, Rapaport News
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