Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went up by 35.9% year-on-year in September 2023; receipts of Western Restaurants, Chinese Restaurants and Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops grew by 68.5%, 46.5% and 35.3% respectively, whereas those of Japanese & Korean Restaurants dropped by 27.9%. In addition, sales of the interviewed retailers rose by 14.4% year-on-year in September, with relatively large growth in the sales of Adults' Clothing Retailers (+35.9%) and Leather Goods Retailers (+32.5%).
In comparison with August, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went down by 13.7% in September after the summer holiday. All types of interviewed establishments registered a decrease in receipts, with receipts of Japanese & Korean Restaurants and Western Restaurants falling by 24.2% and 19.7% respectively. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers fell by 18.0% month-on-month in September; Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers and Department Stores reported respective sales decline of 29.7% and 28.1%, while Motor Vehicle Retailers registered a 16.2% rise in sales.
As regards the business expectations for October, there were 31% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase month-on-month; the corresponding shares for Western Restaurants and Chinese Restaurants were 39% and 33% respectively. On the other hand, about 25% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in October. For retail trade, 53% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales growth in October, with the corresponding shares for Leather Goods Retailers (80%) and Department Stores (67%) being relatively high. By contrast, around 15% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales drop in October, and the corresponding proportion for Motor Vehicle Retailers reached 46%.
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 (53.0) and retail trade (69.1), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in October compared to September.
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.