Which sector had the highest total receipts for 2020?

The combined total receipts of the sectors decreased by 6.7% YoY to $4,614.7b.

The import and export trade sector had the highest total receipts for 2020, ahead of wholesale trade, accommodation services, and food services sectors, based on the Census and Statistics Department’s (C&SD) Annual Survey of Economic Activities.

The survey said the total receipts from the five sectors amounted to $4.614t, and of which, $3.789t were from the import and export trade sector.

The second biggest contributor for the year was the retail trade whose total receipts amounted to $419.3b, followed by wholesale trade ($273b), foods and services ($114.3b), and accommodation services ($18.8b).

The overall total receipt amount of the five sectors represents a 6.7% decrease from 2019 and a 6.0% year-on-year decline on a per establishment basis.

CS&D said all sectors combined comprised some 145 500 establishments and engaged about 946 900 persons in 2020.

Apart from the overall total receipt amount, a decline was also recorded in the operating expenses, cost of goods sold, and compensation of employees of the five sectors, dropping by 6.5% to $4.278t in 2020.

Operating expenses, cost of goods sold, and compensation of employees were highest in import and export trade sector anew at $3.486t, followed by retail trade ($398.6b), wholesale trade ($266.8), foods services sector ($106.8b), and accommodation sector ($20.2b).

Gross surplus also declined across all sectors pushing the overall amount to $2.3m, an 8.7% decrease from last year.

In particular, the gross surplus was down to $303.3 in the import and export trade; $6.1 in wholesale trade; $20.7 in retail trade; $1.4b in accommodation services; and $7.5b in food services.

Meanwhile, the five sectors’ industry value or total contribution to HK’s GDP was at $526.7b which is 15.5% lower than the 2019 amount. On a pep establishment basis, the sector’s industry value dropped by 14.8% to $3.6m.

Per sector this was how much industry value decreased:

Import/export trade - 6.0% to $423.9b
Wholesale trade - 17.4% to $18.1b
Retail trade - 35.8% to $47.6b
Accommodation services sector - 74.5% to $6.1b
Food services sector - 41% to $31.0b

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