HK retail sales grow slowest since 2009
Source: Bloomberg News |
July 4, 2012, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HONG Kong's retail sales in May rose at the slowest pace since 2009 as Chinese mainland shoppers cut back on purchases of luxury goods such as jewelry and watches.
Sales increased 8.8 percent in May from a year earlier to HK$36 billion (US$4.6 billion), the city government said yesterday. That was the smallest gain since September 2009, excluding seasonal distortions in January and February each year caused by the Lunar New Year holiday.
A slowdown on the mainland is rippling through Hong Kong, which reported record retail-sales gains as recently as last year, and nearby Macau, where casino revenues are rising at a slower pace. A loosening of monetary policy may help the mainland economy to regain momentum after manufacturing gauges released on Sunday and Monday pointed to a deterioration in June.
"Today's data is a warning sign for Hong Kong retailers," said Raymond Yeung, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in Hong Kong. "Mainland visitors may not be the gold mine for them anymore."
The increase compared with an 11.4 percent gain in April and the median 9.4 percent estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who started his five-year term on Sunday, needs to sustain the city's economic growth to fulfill his pledges to help the poor. In Macau, gaming revenue rose 12 percent in June from a year earlier, against a 52 percent gain in the same month in 2011, data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed.
The mainland's economic growth cooled to 8.1 percent, the slowest pace in almost three years, in the first quarter.
Caroline Mak, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, said retailers have been offering discounts of 50 percent this summer and slow sales of goods such as furniture indicate weakness in local residents' consumption.
Sales increased 8.8 percent in May from a year earlier to HK$36 billion (US$4.6 billion), the city government said yesterday. That was the smallest gain since September 2009, excluding seasonal distortions in January and February each year caused by the Lunar New Year holiday.
A slowdown on the mainland is rippling through Hong Kong, which reported record retail-sales gains as recently as last year, and nearby Macau, where casino revenues are rising at a slower pace. A loosening of monetary policy may help the mainland economy to regain momentum after manufacturing gauges released on Sunday and Monday pointed to a deterioration in June.
"Today's data is a warning sign for Hong Kong retailers," said Raymond Yeung, an economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd in Hong Kong. "Mainland visitors may not be the gold mine for them anymore."
The increase compared with an 11.4 percent gain in April and the median 9.4 percent estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of seven economists.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who started his five-year term on Sunday, needs to sustain the city's economic growth to fulfill his pledges to help the poor. In Macau, gaming revenue rose 12 percent in June from a year earlier, against a 52 percent gain in the same month in 2011, data from the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau showed.
The mainland's economic growth cooled to 8.1 percent, the slowest pace in almost three years, in the first quarter.
Caroline Mak, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, said retailers have been offering discounts of 50 percent this summer and slow sales of goods such as furniture indicate weakness in local residents' consumption.
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