Restaurants, and the real-estate and manufacturing sectors saw demand for their goods slide in the first quarter of 2003.

Restaurants' business receipts fell by 9%, real-estate industry receipts slid 7%, and the index of industrial production for the manufacturing sector as a whole slipped by 8.8% compared to the first quarter of 2002.

The corresponding producer price index decreased by 1.3%.

The decrease in restaurant business receipts was due in part to the SARS outbreak in mid-March.  

Reduced trading activities in the property market triggered the fall in real-estate industry receipts.

The insurance industry saw huge gains, though, as business receipts increased 21%, as both general insurance and life insurance businesses expanded.

In manufacturing, the electrical and electronic products, machinery, professional equipment and optical goods industries had the largest fall in output (-28%), followed by the basic metals and fabricated metal products industry (-17.3%), and the food, beverages and tobacco industry (-13.8%).

The output of the paper products and printing industry and the chemical, rubber, plastic and non-metallic mineral products industry increased by 11.7% and 3.4% respectively in the first quarter of 2003 over a year earlier.