The value of total retail sales in January, provisionally estimated at $33.9 billion, rose 4.1% compared with the same month in 2021, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales for the month increased 1.7% year-on-year.

Of the total retail sales value in January, online sales accounted for 9%. Provisionally estimated at $3.1 billion, the value of online retail sales rose 29.8% compared with a year earlier.

Noting that retail sales tend to show greater volatility in the first two months of a year due to the timing of the Lunar New Year, the department said the year-on-year comparison of the figures might have been affected to a certain extent.

The value of sales of commodities in supermarkets increased 10.5% compared with January 2021.

This was followed by sales of other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (+12.5% in value); food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (+6.5%); jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts (+7.1%); wearing apparel (+5.6%); commodities in department stores (+2.5%); medicines and cosmetics (+1.7%); fuels (+16.9%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+11.4%); Chinese drugs and herbs (+5.4%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (+2.6%); and optical shops (+9.6%).

Meanwhile, the value of sales of electrical goods and other consumer durable goods, not elsewhere classified dipped 8.2% for the period, followed by sales of motor vehicles and parts (-20.5% in value); and furniture and fixtures (-3.8%).

The Government said that the value of total retail sales rose further by 4.1% in January over a year earlier. However, the figure has yet to fully reflect the impact of the fifth wave of the local COVID-19 epidemic and the further tightening of anti-epidemic measures in the more recent period.

Also considering the possible distortion to the above figures caused by the different timing of the Lunar New Year, it would be more meaningful to examine the combined figures for January and February, when available, to assess the latest retail sales performance.

Looking ahead, the Government noted that the retail sector will remain under immense pressure in the near term given the very austere epidemic situation and various restrictive measures in place.

It is essential for the community to work in unison to support the Government to put the local epidemic under control as swiftly as possible so as to create conditions for the revival of retail business and other hard-hit economic activities, it added.