Retail sales record slight drop in third quarter

The value of retail sales for the third quarter of 2019 decreased by 0.5% year-on-year to 18.06 billion patacas while the sales volume dropped by 0.7%.
The sales value for the categories of adults clothing and motor vehicles recorded the largest decrease, recording a 18.1% and 9.3% year-on-year plunge respectively, according to data issued by the Statistics and Census Service.
In the same period, the value of cosmetics & sanitary articles and communication equipment rose by 15.9% and 12.9%, respectively.
For the first three quarters of 2019, the value of retail sales fell by 0.9% year-on-year to MOP56.42 billion and the volume of sales went down by 0.9%.
In respect of retailers’ views on this, 47.9% of the retailers expected the sales volume in the fourth quarter of 2019 to stay stable year-on-year, 42.1% forecast a decrease and only 10% anticipate an increase.
Meanwhile, 75.9% of the retailers expected the retail prices to remain steady year-on-year in the fourth quarter, 12.5% predicted a decrease and 11.6% foresaw an increase.
In the third quarter of 2019, just under half of the retailers forecast unfavorable business prospects in the fourth quarter, about 30% envisaged stable performance and 20% anticipated a favorable outlook. LV