HK retail sales value rises 21.6 pct in October

The value of total retail sales in Hong Kong in October provisionally estimated at 27.8 billion HK dollars, grew by 21.6 percent over a year earlier, the Census and Statistics Department announced on Tuesday.

A government spokesman said that retail sales grew briskly further in October. Sustained robust sales of big ticket items and consumer discretionaries were reflective of the firm consumer sentiment as well as vibrant tourist spending.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales rose by 19.6 percent in October when compared with a year earlier.

The revised estimate of the value of total retail sales in September 2010, at 25.1 billion HK dollars, reported a year-on- year increase of 17.2 percent, while the volume of total retail sales climbed by 15.8 percent.

Taking the first ten months of 2010 together, total retail sales rose by 18.3 percent in value or 15.5 percent in volume over the same period a year earlier.

The spokesman said that looking ahead, improving job and income prospects and the prevailing strength of inbound tourism should remain favorable to the retail business.