January retail sales dropped 14.6% in value

Retail sales volume also decreased 13.9% y/y.

Hong Kong’s retail sales declined 14.6% y/y in January to HK$46.6bn. Netting out the price effect, retail sales volume declined 13.9% y/y.

According to a research note from Barclays, this is the fifth consecutive month in which retail sales volume has outperformed retail sales value, implying a negative price deflator on retail sales.

A government spokesman said that the y/y decline was partly due to the distortion arising from the timing of the Lunar New Year, which fell in mid-February this year and late January last year.

Here's more from Barclays:

Analysed by broad type of retail sales, all categories recorded declines in January, with the most significant being fuels (-21.5% y/y), jewellery & watches (-21.4% y/y) and consumer durable goods (-20.3% y/y).

In addition, clothing & footwear (-13.8% y/y), supermarkets (-13.1% y/y), department stores (-11.3% y/y) and food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco (-8.7% y/y) recorded noticeable declines.