Singapore’s total retail sales value grew by 6.7% y-o-y to $4.4 billion in December 2021, due to most industries recording y-o-y growths in sales during the month.
According to data released by the Department of Statistics (SingStat) on Feb 4, online retail sales made up an estimated 14.6% of the total retail sales value during the month, mainly comprising supermarkets & hypermarkets, computer & telecommunications equipment, and furniture & household equipment.
On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, December’s total retail sales climbed 2.3%.
Excluding motor vehicles, Singapore’s total retail sales value for December grew 8.6% y-o-y and 2.0% m-o-m.
Within the retail trade sector, watches & jewellery saw the highest y-o-y growth at 27.4%, while petrol service stations saw sales improve by 23.6% y-o-y. Cosmetics, toiletries & medical goods rounded up the top three performing industries with a 17.0% y-o-y growth in December.
Meanwhile, motor vehicles, optical goods & books, mini-marts & convenience stores, as well as others fell 7.2%, 5.0%, 3.9% and 2.4% on a y-o-y basis.
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On a m-o-m basis, department stores, optical goods & books, and food & alcohol logged the highest growth at 9.0%, 8.3% and 8.0% respectively.
Furniture & household equipment and supermarkets & hypermarkets were the only industries to see declines on a m-o-m basis at 7.9% and 2.1% respectively.
Food & Beverage retail sales
In December, total food & beverage retail sales increased 7.4% y-o-y and 11.7% m-o-m to $855 million. According to SingStat, the m-o-m surge was attributable to the lower base in November, where there were stricter dine-in restrictions.
Of the total sales, online food & beverage sales made up an estimated 28.6%, compared to the 33.3% recorded in November.
Within the food & beverage services sector, all industries logged y-o-y growths in December, led by food caterers, which surged by 47.2% y-o-y. The food catering industry’s increase was due to the low base in December 2020, when demand for catering was low.
On a m-o-m basis, all industries also saw m-o-m growths, led by restaurants, which increased by 20.4%.
Photo: The Edge Singapore
