HK jewellery sales shrink by half in 2020
The Covid-19 pandemic dealt a heavy blow to Hong Kong’s retail business, with jewellery sales plummeting by 54 per cent in 2020, latest data from the city’s Census and Statistics Department showed.
December figures were also on the downswing, dipping by 40.8 per cent year on year – quashing initial signs of improvement. Government reported that losses had narrowed in November with sales of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts falling by 16.2 per cent from 26.6 per cent in October and 25.6 per cent in September.
Jewellery sales dropped by as much as 78.5 per cent at the height of virus infections in February last year.
Hong Kong earlier warned that the current fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in the city could once again disrupt the retail business.
A government spokesman commented, “The retail trade will remain challenging in the near term amid frozen inbound tourism and the ongoing local epidemic.”
Total retail sales in 2020 were down 24.3 per cent in value and 25.5 per cent in volume – the largest annual decline on record, the census department said.
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