Retail sales plunged by 42 percent in March to HK$23 billion, continuing a crisis facing the sector that has suffered from the double blow of social unrest and the coronavirus pandemic. The combined value of total retail sales in January and February slumped by 31.8 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Deparment said. Excluding the effect of price changes the volume of retail sales in March dived by 43.8 percent from a year earlier. For the first quarter, retail sales tumbled by 35 percent on year, a provisional estimate shows. Sales volume skided by 36.9 percent on-year, marking the largest decline for a single quarter on record, the department said.

Source: The Standard May 05, 2020 08:37 UTC