MACAO, January 19 – Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicates that restaurant and similar establishment and retail activity improved in November 2021 compared to October. 27% of restaurants and similar establishments surveyed reported year-over-year revenue growth in November, up 15 percentage points from October; the corresponding proportions of Chinese restaurants (31%) and Western restaurants (27%) increased by 22 percentage points and 19 percentage points, respectively. Meanwhile, the proportion of retailers surveyed reporting a year-over-year sales increase in November rose 20 percentage points from the previous month to 37%. The corresponding proportions of leather goods retailers (40%), department stores (42%) and watches, clocks and jewelry retailers (36%) increased by 40 percentage points, 33 percentage points and 27 percentage points, respectively. compared to October, while the share of supermarkets (56%) fell by 22 percentage points. For the Business Performance Index (BPI) which reflects the trend of annual changes in business revenue, the values of restaurants and similar establishments (38.4) and retail trade (46.1) were both lower than 50, which implies that the performance of companies in these two industries in November was less satisfactory compared to the same month last year.
In terms of business expectations for December, 89% of restaurants and related establishments surveyed expected their revenue to increase month-over-month or remain flat, up 3 percentage points from November. . The corresponding shares of Western restaurants (92%) and Chinese restaurants (95%) increased by 15 percentage points and 9 percentage points, respectively, while the share of local-style cafes, congees and noodle shops (78%) fell by 4 percentage points. Meanwhile, 92% of retailers surveyed expected their sales to increase month-over-month or remain flat in December, up 4 percentage points from the previous month. All of the leather goods, watches, clocks and jewelry and adult apparel retailers surveyed were anticipating higher month-over-month sales or flat performance. The corresponding proportion of supermarkets (78%) jumped 22 percentage points, while that of motor vehicle retailers (64%) fell 36 percentage points. The business outlook index (BOI), which reflects the trend of monthly variations in revenue anticipated by the establishments surveyed, was above 50 for restaurants and similar establishments (68.7) and retail trade (73.8) , indicating that respondents in both industries expected better business prospects in December than in November.
The Business Climate in Restaurants and Related Establishments and Retail Trade sample includes 229 restaurants and related establishments and 161 retailers, which accounted for 53.5% and 70.6% of industry revenue respectively in 2019. The BPI and BOI values vary between 0 and 100; an index value greater than 50 implies that the industry has better trading performance in the reference month or higher trading expectations for the coming month compared to the comparison month, whereas an index value less than 50 indicates the opposite. The survey results have not been extrapolated and only reflect the assessment of the business performance and expectations of the restaurants and retailers in the sample.
