Typhoon Hato negatively impacted restaurant revenues

According to the latest Business Climate Survey conducted by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC), the proportion of interviewed restaurants reporting year-on-year growth in revenue in August 2017 dropped by 8 percentage points from the previous month, to 32 percent. DSEC attributes the poor performance to the effect of the catastrophic Typhoon Hato during that month, and says it is the lowest value recorded since November 2016.

For the month of August, the corresponding proportion of local-style cafes, congee and noodle shops (18 percent) reporting revenue growth declined by 20 percentage points, while the share of Japanese and Korean restaurants (44 percent) increased by 19 percentage points.

Some 46 percent of the interviewed establishments recorded a year-on-year decline in revenue, as opposed to the 35 percent of interviewed establishments who reported year-on-year decline in July.

As for retail trade, also covered in the Business Climate Survey, about 41 percent of the interviewed retailers reported year-on-year sales growth in August 2017, down by 8 percentage points from the previous month. On the other hand, another 41 percent of retailers registered a year-on-year sales decrease, up by 15 percentage points over the previous month.

According to DSEC, the interviewed restaurants were less confident about their business prospects in September, citing the end of the summer holidays and the after-effect of Typhoon Hato as the causes of their lull in business.

Just 21 percent anticipated a year-on-year rise in revenue, down by 11 percentage points from August. Meanwhile, the proportion of establishments expecting a year-on-year decline in revenue went up by 9 percentage points to 48 percent.

Most retailers expected no significant change in their business in September. The proportion of interviewed retailers predicting a year-on-year sales increase in September went up by 1 percentage point from August to 25 percent.

The sample for the Business Climate Survey selected 167 restaurants and similar establishments (accounting for 53 percent of the industry’s receipts) and 135 retailers (accounting for 70 percent of the industry’s receipts).