The Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) of Hong Kong released its latest figures on retail sales for January 2025 on 3 March 2025.
Revenue from sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts dropped by 17.9 percent year on year to HK$4.46 billion (around $573.99 million) in January 2025.
The value of total retail sales in January 2025, provisionally estimated at HK$35.3 billion (around $4.54 billion), decreased by 3.2 percent compared with the same month in 2024. The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in December 2024 decreased by 9.6 percent compared with a year earlier.
After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the provisional estimate of the volume of total retail sales in January 2025 decreased by 5.2 percent compared with a year earlier. The revised estimate of the volume of total retail sales in December 2024 decreased by 11.3 percent compared with a year earlier.
In interpreting the figures for January, it should be noted 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. Local consumer spending normally attains a seasonal high before the festival. As the Lunar New Year fell on 29 January this year but on February 10 last year, the year-on-year comparison of the figures for January 2025 with those for January 2024 might have been affected by this factor to a certain extent, said C&SD.
Government spokesperson said that the value of total retail sales recorded a much narrower year-on-year decline in January and turned to an increase on a seasonally adjusted month-to-month comparison, possibly due in part to the earlier arrival of the Lunar New Year this year. It would thus be more meaningful to examine the figures for January and February combined, when available, to assess the latest retail sales performance.
Looking ahead, the spokesperson said that the near-term performance of the retail sector would continue to be affected by the change in consumption patterns of visitors and residents. Nevertheless, the central government's roll-out of various measures to boost the mainland economy and benefit Hong Kong, coupled with the Special Administrative Region Government's proactive efforts to promote tourism development and boost local sentiment, as well as increasing employment earnings, would benefit the sector.
18-03-2025
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