SINGAPORE: Retail sales in Singapore dropped 8.9 per cent in June 2019 compared to a year ago, according to figures released by the Department of Statistics (Singstat) on Thursday (Aug 8).
The estimated total retail sales value in June was about S$3.5 billion, with online retail sales making up an estimated 5.5 per cent.
On a month-to-month basis, retail sales fell 2.2 per cent. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales rose 0.4 per cent, said Singstat in the release.
Compared to last year, sales of motor vehicles declined by 32.4 per cent. This was mainly due to the higher volume of motor vehicle sales in June 2018, as well as the lower COE quota between May and July 2019.
Month-on-month, the sales of the motor vehicles decreased 16.1 per cent compared to May.
Sales of furniture and household equipment dropped by 15.1 per cent, computer and telecommunications equipment sales were down 7.7 per cent, while the sales of watches and jewellery fell 4.8 per cent.
However, the medical goods & toiletries, and clothes & footwear industries both grew by 1.4 per cent.
(Table: Singstat)
FOOD AND BEVERAGE INDUSTRY
Sales of food and beverage services grew by 5.3 per cent in June 2019 compared to the same period last year. Compared with the previous month, it rose 3.2 per cent.
Singstat added that the total sales value of food and beverage services in June this year was estimated at S$864 million, compared to S$820 million in June last year.
Year-on-year, the sales of fast food outlets grew by 10.6 per cent, partly due to the opening of new outlets by major fast food chains.
Food caterers, restaurants and other eating places such as cafes also reported growths in turnover of between 3.2 per cent and 5.7 per cent during this period.
Month-on-month, restaurants, food caterers and other eating places registered growths in sales of between 0.8 per cent and 6.9 per cent compared with May 2019.
However, turnover of fast food outlets dropped by 1.5 per cent from last month.
(Table: Singstat)
