Retailers may suffer greater from new coronavirus than MERS: analysts

SEOUL, Feb. 10 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean retail industry may suffer larger losses from the novel coronavirus than the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in 2015, analysts said Monday, citing the new virus' high rate of infection and tightened quarantine efforts.

"The new coronavirus may have a lower fatality rate compared with MERS, yet it has a higher spreading rate and entails stronger quarantine regulations," Hana Financial Investment Co. analyst Park Jong-dae said.

Park said that the new coronavirus may cause up to a 70 percent fall in both Chinese inbound travelers and duty-free companies' sales.

The retail sector is bearing the brunt of the coronavirus scare, brokerages said, even more so than the MERS and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks.

In 2003, the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) cut South Korea's annual economic growth by 0.1 percentage point. The 2015 MERS outbreak slashed South Korea's annual economic growth by 0.3 percentage point.

In the first week of February, the duty-free companies' combined sales dipped some 30 percent on-year and 50 percent on-quarter, a stark contrast to the previous month's 25 percent hike, according to the Korea Duty Free Shops Associations data.

The number of Chinese visitors fell 81 percent on-month to 3,571 as of Saturday, compared with a 60 percent drop in the three-month period of the MERS outbreak in 2015, Korea Tourism Institute data showed.

Lotte Department Store temporarily closed its main branch in central Seoul until Sunday as part of quarantine efforts after a customer turned out to have contracted the coronavirus.

Hyundai Department Store suspended its premium outlet in Songdo, about 40 kilometers west of Seoul, while South Korea's largest hypermarket chain, Emart, suspended its Mapo-Gongdeok branch.

South Korea has so far reported 27 cases of coronavirus infection. Among them, 24 patients were receiving treatment at local hospitals as of early Monday, with three virus-infected patients already discharged from hospitals.

jwc@yna.co.kr
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