Retail Trade - April 2008

In April, seasonally adjusted (SA) sales in retail trade except automotive segment grew by 0.7% month-on-month and by 2.0% year-on-year, at constant prices. An increase of 3.5% in not seasonally adjusted (NSA) sales was higher than the average growth from the start of the year. Only sale of non-food goods grew; sale of food, beverages and tobacco continued decreasing. SA sales in the automotive segment dropped by 0.4% month-on-month and grew by 2.3% year-on-year, at constant prices; NSA sales were up by 6.8%. SA sales in hotels and restaurants increased by 0.2% month-on-month and NSA sales dropped by 1.1% year-on-year.
SA sales in retail trade (CZ-NACE 52) at constant prices rose by 0.7% month-on-month in April, of which sale of food, beverages and tobacco grew by 1.1% and sale of non-food goods by 0.5%. The trend component grew slightly more month-on-month in comparison to the previous two months (0.07% in February, 0.05% in March, 0.11% in April) and reached the same level as in January 2008 (Table 3).

Graph 1
Year-on-year, adjusted for seasonal and working day effects (April 2008 had two working days more than April 2007; Easter 2007 was in April, Easter 2008 in March), sales in retail trade increased by 2.0% at constant prices, sales adjusted only for working day effects rose by 2.1%. After a drop in March, NSA sales recorded a growth (+3.5%), which was higher than the average growth from the start of the year but lower than the average growth over last 12 months. Growth in April was due to sale of non-food goods (+6.9%); sale of food, beverages and tobacco was down (-1.7%).

The biggest contributors to the total sales increase were retail sale of books, newspapers and stationery, other retail sale in specialised stores, and retail sale of furniture, lighting equipment, household articles, electrical appliances, radio and television goods, hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores. The most rapid growth was recorded for insignificant retail trade via the Internet or mail order houses. After three months of incessant fall, the sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles began to grow (Table 2).

The price deflator (related to April 2007) was 103.6%. The price increase in food, beverages and tobacco slowed down slightly, but was still the highest (+8.2%) among all the commodities. The prices of non-food goods were up only in stores with pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles prices (+3.8%); prices in other stores decreased, just like in retail sale via mail order houses (incl. sale via the Internet).

In April, according to data released by Eurostat, SA retail sales at constant prices in the EU27 dropped by 0.4% month-on-month and by 0.8% year-on-year (working days adjusted). Among the member states for which data were available, the year-on-year sales increases were recorded in Romania (+18.0%), Lithuania (+14.0%), Bulgaria (+10.1%), Poland (+8.4%), Slovakia (+7.1%), Finland (+5.9%), Slovenia (+4.6%), the United Kingdom (+2.8%), Belgium (+1.7%), Latvia (+1.2%) and Sweden (+0.4%). Sales fell in Germany (-5.6%), Spain (-3.3%), Austria (-2.9%), Luxembourg (-2.5%), Estonia (-1.5%), Portugal (-1.0%) and Denmark (-0.8%).
In the automotive segment (CZ-NACE 50), SA sales at constant prices dropped by 0.4% month-on-month and grew by 2.3% year-on-year. NSA sales rose by 6.8% year-on-year, of which sale, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles was up by 7.4% and sale of automotive fuel by 5.7%.

In retail trade incl. the automotive segment (CZ-NACE 52 + 50), SA sales at constant prices increased by 0.4% month-on-month and by 2.1% year-on-year. NSA sales grew by 4.6% year-on-year.

In hotels and restaurants (CZ-NACE 55) SA sales at constant prices grew by 0.2% month-on-month. NSA sales fell by 1.1% year-on-year. A marked decrease was observed in hotels due to a lower number of guests coming to the Czech Republic for Easter. Sales in restaurants, bars and canteens grew by 2.2%, especially due to a high increase in canteens and catering (+10.8%).

---

Note
1) The whole time series is seasonally adjusted every month; indices in the graph are changed retroactively.

Contact: Alena Hellerová, tel. (+420) 274052921, e-mail: alena.hellerova@csu.gov.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in enterprises
End of data collection: 9 June 2008
End of data processing: 13 June 2008
The data for April 2008 are preliminary; final data for all months of 2008 will be available in June 2009 at the latest. Monthly data since 1997 are available in time series ( /sales_indices_monthly_retail_trade_hotels_and_restaurants_time_series )