Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that there were 79% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments recording a year-on-year decrease in receipts in June 2020, a 6 percentage point growth from May. The corresponding share of Japanese & Korean Restaurants (65%) surged by 35 percentage points. Meanwhile, 12% of the interviewed establishments reported a year-on-year increase in receipts, a drop of 5 percentage points from May. The corresponding proportion of Chinese Restaurants (11%) dropped by 6 percentage points.

Performance of retail trade remained the same as in May, with 80% of the interviewed retailers registering a year-on-year sales decrease in June. Besides, the interviewed retailers of Leather Goods, Watches, Clocks & Jewellery, Adults’ Clothing and Cosmetics & Sanitary Articles continued to report a year-on-year sales decline in June, and the corresponding proportion of Department Stores stayed at 73%. Yet, the share of Motor Vehicle Retailers fell by 11 percentage points to 44%. On the other hand, 16% of the interviewed retailers recorded a year-on-year sales rise in June, a decrease of around 1 percentage point from the preceding month, with the corresponding share of Supermarkets (67%) declining by 22 percentage points.

In terms of the business outlook for July, the proportion of interviewed restaurants & similar establishments expecting their receipts to increase year-on-year or remain steady dropped by 5 percentage points from June to 20%, while the corresponding share for retailers (22%) went up by 1 percentage point. Meanwhile, there were 35% of the interviewed restaurants & similar establishments and 50% of the retailers anticipating a year-on-year decline of fifty percent or more in receipts, up by 2 percentage points and 4 percentage points respectively from June.

The sample of the Business Climate Survey on Restaurants & Similar Establishments and Retail Trade was selected based on the value of receipts of the establishments, which comprises 186 restaurants & similar establishments and 135 retailers that accounted for 50% and 65% of the respective industry’s receipts in 2018. The Survey results were not extrapolated and only reflect the assessment of the business performance and expectations of the sample restaurants and retailers.