Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that there were 57% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments reporting a year-on-year rise in receipts in May 2021, a drop of 16 percentage points from April; the corresponding proportion of Japanese & Korean Restaurants (27%) fell by 35 percentage points. Meanwhile, the proportion of interviewed retailers recording a year-on-year sales rise in May (76%) went down by 7 percentage points over the preceding month, with the corresponding shares of Supermarkets (22%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles (70%) decreasing by 22 percentage points and 20 percentage points respectively, whereas all of the interviewed retailers of Leather Goods and Watches, Clocks & Jewellery registering a year-on-year sales increase. The Business Performance Index (BPI) values that reflect the trend of year-on-year changes in receipts of restaurants & similar establishments (65.1) and retail trade (78.2) were both higher than 50, implying that the business of these two industries in May fared better compared to the same month last year.
As regards the business expectations for June, there were 52% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to decrease month-to-month, up by 47 percentage points from May; the corresponding shares of Chinese Restaurants (68%) and Western Restaurants (62%) surged by 65 percentage points and 54 percentage points respectively. Moreover, 39% of the interviewed retailers anticipated a month-to-month sales decline in June, a growth of 26 percentage points from the preceding month. The corresponding proportions of Department Stores (67%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (40%) and Adults' Clothing Retailers (41%) rose by 50 percentage points, 40 percentage points and 38 percentage points respectively. The Business Outlook Index (BOI) that reflects the trend of month-to-month changes in receipts anticipated by the interviewed establishments was lower than 50 for both restaurants & similar establishments (31.8) and retail trade (41.8), indicating that the respondents from both industries predicted a less favourable business outlook in June than in May.
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.