Restaurants, caterers lead jump in F&B sales with double-digit growth
Sales of food caterers registered a growth of 39.5 per cent in February, compared to a year ago, while restaurants saw an increase of 20.5 per cent, according to figures released by the Department of Statistics (SingStat) on Friday (Apr 5).
People dine at a restaurant in a shopping mall in Singapore on May 14, 2021. (File photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman)
SINGAPORE: Singapore's food and beverage (F&B) services rose 14.7 per cent year-on-year in February, with restaurants and food caterers leading the growth.
The Department of Statistics (SingStat) attributed the recovery - January saw a 5.5 per cent on-year drop - mainly to Chinese New Year being celebrated in February this year, as opposed to January in 2023.
Food caterers (39.5 per cent) and restaurants (20.5 per cent) led the way as all industries within the F&B services sector recorded growth in sales.
Sales of fast food outlets increased by 9 per cent, while sales of cafes, food courts and other eating places went up 5.2 per cent year-on-year in February.
The total sales value of F&B services in February was estimated at S$1.0 billion, said SingStat on Friday (Apr 5), with 20.8 per cent coming from online sales - lower than the 22.9 per cent recorded in January.
"Comparing the performance for the two-month period (January to February), F&B sales increased 4.0 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023. On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales of F&B services grew 7.9 per cent in February 2024 compared to the previous month," said SingStat.
INCREASE IN RETAIL SALESÂ
Retail sales in February also went up - 8.4 per cent year-on-year - extending the 1.6 per cent growth in January.
Excluding motor sales, retail sales rose 9.4 per cent compared to the 1.8 decrease in January.
SingStat noted that most retail industries recorded year-on-year growth in sales in February, with the food and alcohol industry recording an increase of 31.4 per cent. Supermarket and hypermarket sales also climbed, by 19.2 per cent.
For watches and jewellery, sales increased 16.8 per cent, mainly due to higher sales of the latter.
But sales of optical goods and books, and computer and telecommunications equipment recorded year-on-year declines in of 9.3 per cent and 7.7 per cent respectively.
The total retail sales value in February was estimated at S$3.9 billion, with online retail sales comprising 10.9 per cent, lower than the 11 per cent recorded in the previous month.
Excluding motor vehicles, the total retail sales value was about S$3.4 billion, of which 12.4 per cent came from online retail sales.
