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SINGAPORE: Retail sales in Singapore fell at a slower pace of 5.7 percent year-on-year in August, amid strong demand for new and used cars, the Department of Statistics (SingStat) said on Monday (Oct 5) .
This is an improvement over the 8.5 percent decline in July.
Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales fell 8.4% year-on-year, data released by SingStat showed.
Compared to the previous month, seasonally adjusted retail sales increased 1.4 percent in August. Without motor vehicle sales, the increase was 0.1 percent.
Total estimated retail sales in August 2020 were about S $ 3.4 billion, of which 10.9 percent came from online retail sales.
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Online sales from the IT and telecommunications equipment, furniture and home appliance industries, as well as supermarkets and hypermarkets accounted for 46.7%, 23.5% and 11.7% of the total sales of their respective industries.
Most retail industries continued to see a decline in August, including department stores, which saw a 35.3 percent drop in sales. Sales of cosmetics, toiletries and medical items (-29 percent) and apparel and footwear (-28.6 percent) also decreased.
Sales in the motor vehicle industry increased 12.1 percent amid strong demand for new and used cars.
Other industries that recorded growth include: Supermarkets and hypermarkets (21.9 percent), furniture and home equipment (18.7 percent), and computer and telecommunications equipment (16.4 percent).
This was due to increased demand for groceries, appliances and computers as employees adopted work-from-home arrangements, SingStat said.
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GREATER DECENSION IN THE FOOD AND BEVERAGE SECTOR
The food and beverage sector reported a steeper 28.6 percent year-on-year drop in sales, after food suppliers stopped providing food for most foreign worker dormitories starting in August.
Total food and beverage service sales were estimated at S $ 665 million, with online sales accounting for about 20.6 percent, SingStat said.
Catering services registered the biggest drop with 70.6 percent. This was due to lower demand for food catering, as a result of restrictions on large-scale events and meetings.
The turnover of restaurants (-32.2%), cafes, food courts and other places to eat (-17.6%), as well as fast food establishments (-10.9%) also decreased during this period.
