Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that, owing to the lingering impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments dropped by 71.4% year-on-year in July 2022. Receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants fell by 85.6% and 83.1% respectively. Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers plunged by 82.0% year-on-year in July; Leather Goods Retailers (-96.3%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (-95.6%), Department Stores (-93.8%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (-91.3%) all posted a decline of over 90% in sales, while Supermarkets (+28.7%) registered an increase.
In comparison with June, receipts of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments went down by 52.5% in July; receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants declined by 73.0% and 71.7% respectively. Besides, sales of the interviewed retailers decreased by 66.4% month-on-month in July; Leather Goods Retailers (-93.2%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (-90.2%), Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (-83.1%) and Department Stores (-82.4%) showed a notable drop in sales, while Supermarkets (+8.2%) recorded a rise.
As regards the business expectations for August, most of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments and retailers anticipated a month-on-month increase in receipts as no new infection cases were found in the community at the end of July. There were 80% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to grow month-on-month in August, with the corresponding shares for Japanese & Korean Restaurants and Local Style Cafes, Congee & Noodle Shops reaching 91% and 88% respectively. On the other hand, around 13% of the interviewed establishments predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in August. Meanwhile, 78% of the interviewed retailers forecasted a month-on-month sales growth in August. All of the interviewed Motor Vehicle Retailers and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers anticipated a rise in sales in August, and the corresponding share for Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers stood at 91%. By contrast, 6% of the interviewed retailers expected a month-on-month sales drop in August, and the corresponding proportion for Supermarkets (44%) was the highest.
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 (83.3) and retail trade (85.8), indicating that the respondents from both industries expected a better business outlook in August compared to July.
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.