HK's Retail Sales Value Grows 12% in November

The value of Hong Kong's total retail sales in November rose 11.7 percent over the same month last year, the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region's government announced on Tuesday.

The value of Hong Kong's total retail sales is provisionally estimated at 22.9 billion HK dollars (2.95 billion U.S. dollars). After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales grew 9.8 percent.

The department said retail sales rose markedly further in November, mainly reflecting the strengthening of consumer sentiment, as evidenced by the sharp increases in spending on motor vehicles and consumer durable goods. The continued expansion of inbound tourism also contributed to the increases.

The sales volume of motor vehicles and parts increased the most by 52.1 percent, followed by miscellaneous consumer durable goods at 21.1 percent, electrical goods and photographic equipment at 19percent, jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts at 14 percent as well as fuel at 11.3 percent.

Taking the first 11 months of the year together, total retail sales fell 1 percent in value or 2 percent in volume compared with the same period a year earlier.

Based on the seasonally adjusted series, the volume of total retail sales grew 7.3 percent in the three months ending November compared with the preceding three-month period.