Hong Kong's retail sales up 8.6 percent in February

The value of total retail sales in Hong Kong last month was provisionally estimated at 29.2 billion HK dollars (3.75 billion U.S. dollars), up 8.6 percent from a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong government said Thursday in a statement.
According to figures released by the Department, after netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales rose 5.1 percent compared with the same month last year.
The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in January was 37.6 billion HK dollars which was up 28.1 percent year on year, while the volume of total retail sales increased 23.6 percent.
The department said retail sales tend to show greater volatility in the first two months of a year due to the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday. As the Lunar New Year fell on Feb. 3 this year but on Feb. 14 last year, it is more appropriate to analyze the retail sales figures for January and February taken together, it said.
Taking the first two months of this year together, total retail sales grew 18.8 percent in value, or 14.7 percent in volume, over the same period last year.
Taking January and February together, the volume of sales of miscellaneous consumer durable goods was up 99.9 percent over the same period last year, followed by sales of jewelry, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts, which rose by 29.7 percent in volume.
The department said improving job and income prospects should bode well for consumer confidence. This should continue to support retail business, coupled with the further growth of inbound tourism.
However, there could be some impact on the business of certain retailers arising from the recent nuclear crisis in Japan. The impact on overall retail sales, if any, will be reflected in the figures in the coming months.
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