Total retail sales in Hong Kong in July 2013, provisionally estimated at USD40 billion, increased by 9.5 percent over a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) reported on Monday.
The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in June 2013 increased by 14.7 percent over the same period a year earlier, while the volume of total retail sales increased by 13.3 percent.
For the first seven months of 2013, total retail sales increased by 14.2 percent in value and 13.6 percent in volume over the same period a year earlier.
Compared with July 2012, the volume of sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts increased by 31.3 percent. This was followed by sales of wearing apparel (5.5 percent); commodities in supermarkets (1.4 percent); commodities in department stores (21.4 percent); medicines and cosmetics (8.2 percent); food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (0.3 percent); other consumer goods, not elsewhere classified (0.3 percent); miscellaneous consumer durable goods (17.3 percent); fuels (0.2 percent); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (2.7 percent); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (2.3 percent); Chinese drugs and herbs (9.6 percent); and optical shops (14.0 percent).
On the other hand, the volume of sales of electrical goods and photographic equipment decreased by 9.3 percent in July 2013 compared with a year earlier. This was followed by sales of motor vehicles and parts (11.3 percent in volume); and furniture and fixtures (11.7 percent).