Jun. 1, 2012 (China Knowledge) - The value of total retail sales in Hong Kong grew 11.4% YoY to HK$35.7 billion in April this year, according to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department.

The growth in retail sales was lower than the revised increase of 17.1% in March when retails sales stood at HK$36.6 billion.

Netting out the effect of price changes, sales volume grew 7.6% YoY in April, after rising 13.2% in March.  

In April, the retail sales volume of miscellaneous durable consumer goods experienced the biggest rise, up 52.2% YoY, followed by a 45.2% surge in the sales volume of electrical goods and photographic equipment, 9.7% increase in footwear, allied products and other clothing accessories, 8.0% increase in commodities in supermarkets and a 6.6% increase in watches and clocks, and valuable gifts.

However, the volume of sales of motor vehicles and parts fell 18.6% in April, followed by a 9.2% decrease in sales of furniture and fixtures and 6.4% decrease in food, alcoholic drinks and tobacco.
 
In the first four months of this year, Hong Kong's total retail sales rose 14.7% in value or 10.0% in volume compared with the same period in 2011.