F&B sector revenues plunge 70% in July

Revenues for restaurants and similar establishments dropped by 71.4% year-on-year in July amid the partial lockdown as the city faced its largest outbreak during the summer. 

Data from the the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), showed that receipts of Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants fell by 85.6% and 83.1%, respectively.

In comparison with June, the receipts of these interviewed restaurants and similar establishments (229) went down by 52.5% in July; while the revenues of Chinese Restaurants and Japanese & Korean Restaurants declined by 73.0% and 71.7%, respectively.

The city’s non-essential businesses came to a halt in July to deter the spread of the pandemic, which also deterred restaurants from accepting dine-in services.

As regards business expectations for August, most of the interviewed restaurants and similar establishments and retailers anticipated a month-on-month increase in receipts, since no new infection cases were found in the community at the end of July. 

There were 80% of the interviewed restaurants and similar establishments expecting their receipts to grow month-on-month in August, while around 13% of the interviewed establishments still predicted that their receipts would decrease month-on-month in August. 

Meanwhile, sales of the interviewed retailers plunged by 82.0% year-on-year in July; Leather Goods Retailers (-96.3%), Watches, Clocks & Jewellery Retailers (-95.6%), Department Stores (-93.8%) and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles Retailers (-91.3%) all posted a decline of over 90% in sales, while Supermarkets (+28.7%) registered an increase. LV