The value of total retail sales in December, provisionally estimated at $44.9 billion, edged up 0.1% on the same month in 2017, the Census & Statistics Department announced today.

After netting out the effect of price changes over the same period, the volume of total retail sales increased 0.2% year-on-year.

The sales value of commodities in department stores went up 4.9%.

This was followed by commodities in supermarkets (+2.4%); medicines and cosmetics (+6.9%); food, alcohol and tobacco (+1%); other consumer goods (+9.4%); motor vehicles and parts (+8.9%); footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories (+5.8%); fuels (+1%); furniture and fixtures (+2.5%); books, newspapers, stationery and gifts (+6.7%); Chinese drugs and herbs (+10.5%); and optical shops (+6.2%).

The sales value of jewellery, watches and clocks, and valuable gifts fell 4.9%, followed by wearing apparel (-0.3%); and electrical goods and other consumer durable goods (-15.2%).

For 2018 as a whole, the value of total retail sales was provisionally estimated at $485.2 billion, up 8.8% in value and 7.6% in volume compared to 2017.

The department said the value of retail sales in December recorded little change from a year earlier, reflecting the cautious consumption sentiment.

Total retail sales value for 2018 rose 8.8%, thanks to robust growth in the first half of the year.

Retail sales performance will continue to be affected by the cautious consumption sentiment amid moderating global economic growth and the uncertainty stemming from the US-Mainland tensions in the near term, it added.