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HKRMA NEWSLETTER 零售商

Message from Legislative Councillor Functional Constituency Representative for Wholesale & Retail

立法會議員之話 批發及零售界功能組別代表

Hon. Vincent Fang, SBS, JP

方剛先生

廣東人有句俗語：「屋漏兼逢夜雨」，大抵可以形 容香港零售行業目前的境況了！首先是中國內地政 局的變化，許多高消費階層改變消費模式，令本港 的零售數字“節節下降＂；繼有市民進行針對內地 遊客的行為之後，特首更向商界拋出削減自由行數 目兩成的建議；加上可能會在8月中下旬出現的“佔 領中環＂行動，令主辦今年亞太區經濟合作組織財 長會議的中國，取消原定在港舉行的會議，另有許 多國際經濟活動和旅行團都調整了該段時間來港的 行程；難怪兩大金融機構最近出版的經濟評論都看 淡零售業今年的表現！

零售行業向來是“春江水暖鴨先知＂，統計處的零售 數據自今年二月份開始，無論是零售額還是零售量， 與去年同期比較均出現跌幅，尤其是四月份，更出現 零售總值下跌9.9%，接近雙位數跌幅，這是香港自10

年前沙士低潮後最差的表現！

雖然五月份的數字顯示跌幅放緩，惟細看個別行業的 表現，過去一支獨秀的珠寶首飾、鐘錶和名貴禮物、 電器及攝影器材，更連續數月下跌！反而是比較大眾 化的消費品，如糖果、衣物、藥物、眼鏡和化妝品， 則錄得尚好的升幅，明顯是受現時來港採購民生用品 居多的內地自由行所帶動。

正當零售界在思量如何調整業務應對內地旅客消費放 緩之際，行政長官在五月下旬的策略發展委員會會議 上，突然詢問商界是否能夠承受將內地自由行遊客數 目削減兩成帶來的衝擊，並指商界就過去一段時間出 現的批評自由行的聲音未有積極回應和發聲！

As the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly. Our retail section is bracing for one piece of bad news after another. The political new order in Beijing and the change of lifestyle from extravagance to moderation has resulted in continuous decline in retail sales in Hong Kong. The sentiment amongst the Hong Kong community meanwhile is turning against Mainland visitors and the Chief Executive revealed his plan to slash the number of visitors under the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) by 20%. The final straw was the threat of the Occupy Central movement which could become a reality in August which partly explained the Beijing decision to move the APEC Finance Minister meeting from Hong Kong to the Chinese capital. And the repercussions were multiple: many meetings and business activities which are peripheral to the APEC forum were cancelled and a large number of visitors have also changed their plan to visit Hong Kong. It is not surprising that two major financial institutions recently revised downwards their economic forecast for Hong Kong.

The retail sector is always the barometer of the local economy. Census & Statistics Department's data showed that both the volume and value of the retail market had declined over the same period last year. The situation was particularly worrying for April as the decline was 9.9% - this near double-digit dip was the worst we have seen since the SARS epidemic.

Although the decline in May has eased slightly, if one looks at the leading trade i.e. jewellery and watches or electronic appliances, businesses have dived for several months in a row. However, it was the lower end of the market such as confectioneries, clothing, pharmaceuticals and beauty products that had shown resilience and some signs of improvement. This was because the bulk of visitors from the Mainland are coming here to buy daily necessities rather than go for luxury shopping.

As the retail sector struggled to cope with the deteriorating business, the Chief Executive came up with a surprising question whether we were able to withstand a 20% cut in quota for IVS imposed on Mainlanders. The Chief Executive even claimed that the commercial sector had not addressed public concerns or made any substantive comments on the various criticisms levelled against IVS.