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Friday, September 04, 2020 – 1:10 pm
SINGAPORE’s retail sales were on track for recovery in July, the first full month with stores reopening, after the second-quarter closure of “circuit breakers.”
On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, turnover was 27.4 percent higher than the previous month, which the Department of Statistics (SingStat) attributed to a lower base, as most physical stores had closed . Singapore entered the second phase of its three-stage economic reopening on June 19.
Collections were still down 8.5 percent year-on-year as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hit the retail sector.
But the preliminary figure released by SingStat on Friday surpassed the average 15% drop expected by private analysts in a Bloomberg survey, marking an improvement from the 27.7% drop seen in June.
Excluding sales of high-priced motor vehicles, which benefited from the resumption of the Certificate of Ownership (COE) tender in July, retail revenue increased 19.5 percent from the previous month, although it decreased by 7 , 7 percent year-on-year.
The year-on-year performance of the retail industry was affected by department stores, where sales fell 32.1 percent; clothing and footwear, 27.7 percent less; and the watches and jewelery segment, which contracted 21 percent.
These industries “continued to be affected by low tourist arrivals due to the global Covid-19 outbreak,” SingStat said. The drop could not be offset by what the agency called “higher demand for groceries, as well as for computers and mobile phones.”
The IT and telecommunications equipment segment grew 27.4 percent, while supermarkets and hypermarkets posted a 28.6 percent year-on-year increase in sales.
That’s even as the demand for groceries in supermarkets, hypermarkets, convenience stores and convenience stores has dropped on a monthly basis, which SingStat attributed to the reopening of food and beverage (F&B) services.
Revenues amounted to S $ 3.3 billion during the month, of which 11 percent was from online transactions.
Meanwhile, F&B services business volume declined 25.4 percent year-on-year, and the pace of decline slowed from a 43.6 percent drop in June.
Catering services were the hardest hit segment, as revenue fell 45.2 percent in July due to low demand for event catering amid the pandemic, despite a month-over-month rebound due to increased demand for meals prepared in the dormitories of foreign workers.
Restaurant billing fell 29.9 percent year-on-year, while cafes, food courts and other restaurants posted a 19.6 percent drop, and fast food outlets fell 11.5 percent.
SingStat noted that the big decline in F&B revenue came as safe management regulations have limited F&B facilities to five diners at each table.
The total value of F&B sales was S $ 665 million, with 21.1% of sales online. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, food and beverage collections increased 29.2 percent in July.
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