The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) released the latest figures on retail sales April 29.
The value of total retail sales in March 2008, provisionally estimated at $22.6 billion, increased by 20.0% over a year earlier. After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales increased by 13.0% in March 2008 over a year earlier.
The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in February 2008, at $22.8 billion, increased by 9.5% over February 2007, while the volume of total retail sales increased by 4.4%. This came after an increase of 23.2% in value or 17.6% in volume in January.
It should be noted that retail sales tend to show greater volatility in the first two months of a year due to the timing of the Lunar New Year, against the background that the local consumer spending normally attains a seasonal high immediately before the Festival. For the first two months of 2008 combined, retail sales increased by 16.4% in value or 11.0% in volume from a year earlier.
Taking the first quarter of 2008 together, total retail sales increased by 17.5% in value or 11.6% in volume over the same period a year earlier.
Analysed by type of retail outlet and comparing March 2008 with March 2007. The sales of wearing apparel (+19.0%); furniture and fixtures (+16.9%); miscellaneous consumer goods (+15.7%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+13.2%); commodities in department stores (+11.5%); jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (+10.7%); commodities in supermarkets (+4.9%) and miscellaneous consumer durable goods (+4.7%).
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