Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments surged by 104.5% year-on-year in June 2023. All types of interviewed establishments registered a year-on-year rise in receipts, with receipts of Western Restaurants (+164.3%), Chinese Restaurants (+146.7%) and Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops (+90.1%) showing notable growth. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 80.6% year-on-year in June. Sales of Department Stores, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers, Leather Goods Retailers and Adults' Clothing Retailers increased by over 100%, whereas only the sales of Supermarkets (-14.2%) decreased.
In comparison with May, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went up by 2.0% in June; receipts of Chinese Restaurants rose by 4.9% whereas those of Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops dropped slightly by 0.7%. Besides, sales of the interviewed retailers went down by 5.5% month-on-month in June; retailers of Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery and Motor Vehicles reported respective sales decreases of 16.0%, 12.5% and 11.7%, while sales of Supermarkets grew by 3.0%.
As regards the business expectations for July, there were 36% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month, and the corresponding shares for Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants were both 41%. On the other hand, 19% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in July. For retail trade, 31% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales growth in July, and the corresponding shares for Leather Goods Retailers and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers were 60% and 36% respectively. By contrast, around 24% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales decline in July, with the corresponding share for Motor Vehicle Retailers reaching 73%.
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 (58.1) and retail trade (53.5), indicating that the respondents from both industries generally 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. The business performance in the reference month is reflected by the change in the receipts of the sampled establishments and retailers in the reference month as against the month of comparison. 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 month of comparison, whereas an index value below 50 indicates the opposite.