Macau: Retail sales value up 12pct

The value of retail sales during the first quarter of 2017 increased by 12 percent year-on-year to MOP16.59 billion, according to figures released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) yesterday, and were around 4.3 percent higher than the revised figure for the final quarter of last year.

According to DSEC, watches, clocks and jewelry accounted for 23.2 percent of the total retail sales, followed by goods in department stores (15 percent), adults’ clothing (12.8 percent), leather goods (11.8 percent) and goods in supermarkets (7.1 percent).

After removing the effect of price changes, the volume of retail sales increased by 11.5 percent year-
on-year in the first quarter.

The sales volume of motorcycles, part and accessories (+43 percent), leather goods (+26.3 percent), cosmetics and sanitary articles (+23.8 percent) and watches, clocks and jewelry (+20.6 percent) registered notable growth. Meanwhile, a marked decrease was observed in the sale volume of motor vehicles, which declined by 12.3 percent.

In respect to retailers’ comments, about 47.5 percent of the retailers anticipated the sales volume in the second quarter of 2017 to stay stable as in the same quarter a year earlier. At the same time, 46.9 percent forecasted a decrease and just 5.6 percent expected an increase.

Meanwhile, 75.3 percent of the surveyed retailers anticipated the retail prices to remain steady year-
on-year in the second quarter of 2017, 16.1 percent expected a decrease and 8.6 percent predicted an increase.

As compared with the first quarter of 2017, 50.6 percent of the retailers anticipated a stable business performance during the second quarter, while only 16.8 percent predicted an improvement.