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Business receipts in value terms of most of the major service industries showed decreases of different magnitudes in the third quarter of 2009 when compared with the third quarter of 2008, according to the provisional business receipts indices released today (December 11) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
Comparing the third quarter of 2009 with the third quarter of 2008, the transportation industry recorded the largest decline in business receipts (-25.6%), mainly attributable to the significant decreases in the business receipts of the water and air transport industries. Other major service industries that recorded decreases in business receipts of over 10% included the accommodation (mainly referring to services provided by hotels) (-17.7%), administrative and support services (-15.6%), import and export trade (-14.8%) and wholesale (-10.1%) industries.
Alongside the continued firming up in the residential property market in the third quarter of 2009, the real estate industry recorded the largest year-on-year increase in business receipts (+26.7%). Increases were also recorded in the insurance (+5.7%), financing (except banking) (+3.4%), professional, scientific and technical services (+3.1%) and warehousing and storage (+2.8%) industries.
Analysed by service domain, business receipts of the computer and information technology services domain dropped by 18.5% in the third quarter of 2009 when compared with the third quarter of 2008. The decline was mainly attributable to the fall in the trading of computer and related products. During the same period, a smaller decline in business receipts was observed in the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain (-5.8%). While inbound tourism showed signs of recovery, the decline was mainly due to the significant drop in the average room rate of hotels.
Comparing the third quarter of 2009 with the second quarter of 2009, except for the banking industry, all major service industries recorded increases in business receipts of different magnitudes. The wholesale industry recorded the largest increase in business receipts (+13.1%), followed by the import and export trade (+10.8%) and courier (+10.4%) industries. It should be noted that the above comparison might be affected by seasonal factors to some extent.
Table 1 presents the provisional business receipts indices for selected service industries and service domains for the third quarter of 2009, while Table 2 shows the time series of the business receipts indices for the recent five quarters.
The revised business receipts indices for the third quarter of 2009 will be released at the website of C&SD (http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/index.jsp) and relevant publications of the C&SD starting from January 22, 2010.
Data for compiling the business receipts indices are mainly based on the Quarterly Survey of Service Industries conducted by the C&SD, supplemented by relevant data provided by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Hong Kong Tourism Board.
A service domain differs from a service industry in that it comprises those economic activities which straddle different industries but are somehow related to a common theme. It may include all activities carried out by all establishments in a service industry that is closely related to the domain. For a service industry that is less closely related, however, only a portion of the establishments in the industry or even only part of the economic activities of the establishments is related to the domain. Taking the tourism, convention and exhibition services domain as an example, it includes all services of all hotels and travel agents; and some (those involving visitors as customers) but not all of the services of restaurants, retailers and transport operators.
The classification of service industries follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC), which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes. Upon the implementation of the new HSIC Version 2.0 by the C&SD in October 2008, the new classification has been adopted in compiling the quarterly business receipts indices. Starting from the first quarter of 2009, all business receipts indices are compiled based on the HSIC Version 2.0, and the base period of the indices has been changed to 2008 (i.e. with the quarterly average of the indices in 2008 taken as 100).
The series of business receipts indices under the HSIC Version 2.0 has also been backcasted to the first quarter of 2005. Readers who are interested in the backcasted series or have enquiries about the business receipts indices may contact the Business Services Statistics Section of the C&SD (Tel : 2802 1277 or E-mail : business-receipts@censtatd.gov.hk).
More detailed statistics are given in the report "Quarterly Business Receipts Indices for Service Industries, Third Quarter 2009". Users can download this publication free of charge at the website of the C&SD at (http://www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/statistical_report/commerce_and_industry/index.jsp).
Ends/Friday, December 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:31
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