Retail sales in Macao during the first six months of this year have bounced back to 96 percent of 2019 levels, with the total value reaching 36.85 billion patacas, according to data from the Statistics and Census Service Bureau (known by its Portuguese initials DSEC).
When compared to the first six months of 2023, however, the current total is equivalent to a decrease of 17.5 percent. DSEC explained that this was because the latest figures were being compared with the spending boom that occurred shortly after pandemic restrictions were lifted in January of last year.
The second quarter also witnessed a fall in retail sales, with a total of 16.16 billion patacas, a decrease of around 23 percent against the same period last year.
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With regard to the volume of goods sold, there was a year-on-year decrease of 22 percent in the first half of 2024. The second quarter similarly experienced a dip of almost 25 percent in comparison to the first quarter of this year.
As part of the survey, retailer’s forecasts were recorded as well. Almost half of the businesses polled believed there would be a fall in their sales volume during the third quarter of this year in comparison to the same period in 2023. Roughly 42 percent of retailers felt that the figure would show little change over the third quarter, while only 8.4 percent of them anticipated a rise.
Approximately 70 percent of retailers expected prices to stay mostly unchanged in the third quarter.
