XN000022-1995-11-23 — Page 10

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Meanwhile, sales of some commodities recorded slight increases in value but decreases in volume. They included food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (+1% in value, -8% in volume) and consumer durable goods (other than motor vehicles) (+3% in value, -2% in volume).

Concurrently, sales in department stores rose by 1% in value but went down by 7% in volume.

Nevertheless, there were still increases in sales of clothing and footwear (14% in value and 6% in volume); miscellaneous consumer goods (8% in value and 2% in volume) and jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts (7% in value and 4% in volume). Sales in supermarkets also rose by 12% in value and 3% in volume.

Compared with August 1995 (but bearing in mind that this comparison may be affected by seasonal factors), total retail sales in September 1995 decreased by 4% in both value and volume.

Comparing the period from January to September 1995 with the same period in 1994, total retail sales rose by 5% in value, but dropped by 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.

Table 1 presents the revised total retail sales figure for August 1995 and the provisional figure for September 1995.

Table 2 shows the value and volume indices of retail sales in August and September 1995 for all retail outlets and by type of retail outlet, with average retail sales from October 1989 to September 1990 taken as 100.

Comparisons of the September 1995 results with those for August 1995 and those for September 1994, as well as comparisons of retail sales in the period from January to September 1995 with the same period in 1994 are also given.

The report containing the analysis of the September 1995 results is now on sale at $4 per copy at the Government Publications Centre, Queensway Government Offices, ground floor, Low Block, 66 Queensway; and the Publications Unit of the Census and Statistics Department, 19th floor, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai.

Enquiries about the survey results may be directed to the Wholesale and Retail Trade Statistics Section of the Census and Statistics Department on 2802 1258.

End/Thursday, November 23, 1995

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