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Provisional statistics of retail sales for July released
The value of total retail sales in July 1996, estimated at $18.9 billion, increased by 7% when compared with July 1995, according to the provisional figures released today (Tuesday) by the Census and Statistics Department.
After discounting the effect of price changes over the period, total retail sales increased by 3% in volume.
Compared with a year ago, sales of motor vehicles increased substantially by 34% in value and 32% in volume. Sales of other consumer durable goods also went up by 10% in value and 9% in volume.
Concurrently, sales of some other commodities also recorded various These included magnitudes of increases in both value and volume terms. miscellaneous consumer goods (10% in value and 5% in volume); and jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts (5% in value and 4% in volume). Sales in supermarkets also rose by 7% in value and 1% in volume.
Besides, sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco went up by 5% in value, albeit virtually no change in volume.
On the other hand, sales of clothing and footwear and sales in department stores increased by 5% and 2% in value but decreased by 1% and 3% in volume respectively. Sales of fuels continued to show a decline, by 9% in value and 16% in volume.
This is attributable to a growing trend towards direct purchase of fuels from the major suppliers rather than from the retailers, as new housing developments are now generally provided with build-in pipelines for direct supply of fuels.
Compared with June 1996 (but bearing in mind that this comparison is affected by seasonal factors), total retail sales in July 1996 increased by 8% in value and 9% in volume.
Comparing the period from January to July 1996 with the same period in 1995, total retail sales rose by 6% in value and 1% in volume.
The volume of retail sales is derived from the value of retail sales after adjusting for price changes. The relevant components of the consumer price index are used as deflators.