XN000022-1996-05-24 — Page 20

-

18 -

Concurrently, sales of a number of commodities also recorded increases in both value and volume terms. These included clothing and footwear (17% in value and 8% in volume); miscellaneous consumer goods (9% in value and 4% in volume); and supermarkets (9% in value and 1% in volume).

Meanwhile, sales of food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco and sales in department stores both went up by 7% in value, albeit having virtually no change in volume.

On the other hand, sales of consumer durable goods other than motor vehicles and fuels rose by 2% and 3% in value respectively but declined by 1% and 2% in volume respectively. Sales of jewellery, watches and clocks and valuable gifts went down by 3% in value and 8% in volume.

Compared with February 1996 (but bearing in mind that this comparison is affected by seasonal factors), total retail sales in March 1996 decreased by 4% in both value and volume. Comparing the period from January to March 1996 with the same period in 1995, 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 February 1996 and the provisional figure for March 1996.

Table 2 shows the value and volume indices of retail sales in March 1995, February and March 1996 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 March 1996 results with those for February 1996 and those for March 1995, as well as comparison of retail sales in the period from January to March of 1996 with the same period in 1995 are also given.

The report containing the analysis of the March 1996 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.

Page 20Page 21