Retail sales may be falling in Hong Kong, but prices in most categories are not following suit.

The most notable exception is fashion.

CPI data for March released by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD) shows consumer prices rose by 3 per cent overall in March 2016 over the same month in 2015 – slightly lower than the 3.1 per cent of February 2016. Netting out the effects of all government’s one-off relief measures, the underlying Hong Kong inflation rate in March was 2.9 per cent, mainly due to the smaller increases in the prices of fresh vegetables.

By category, the prices of food (excluding meals bought away from home) rose by 5.6 per cent year-on-year in March, meals bought away from home by 3.6 per cent, while alcoholic drinks and tobacco rose by  a mere 0.2 per cent.

The challenging retail sector did fuel a decrease in the cost of clothing and other apparel – down 3.7 per cent year-on-year, while durable goods prices fell 5.1 per cent.

A government spokesman said inflationary pressure held moderate in March. The faster increases in food prices amid bad weather conditions earlier this year receded somewhat, while other major CPI components mostly faced benign price pressures. However, due partly to the different timing of the Easter holidays, which fell in early April last year but in late March this year, the charges for package tours reverted to showing a year-on-year increase in March.

“Looking ahead, the upside risks to inflation should remain limited in the near term, as external price pressures stay tame amid low global inflation, while local cost increases will likely be restrained by the subpar economic conditions and retreat in rental cost pressures,” the spokesman said.

On a seasonally-adjusted basis, the average monthly rate of increase in the Composite CPI for the three-month period from January to March 2016 was 0.3 per cent, and for the three-months from December 2015 to February 2016, 0.4 per cent.