Retail Trade - August

In August, seasonally adjusted (SA) sales in retail trade including automotive segment fell month-on-month by 0.3% at constant prices and in the year-on-year comparison they dropped by 3.6%. Seasonally non-adjusted sales decreased by 3.5%, for the eleventh month in a row. The biggest contribution to the y-o-y drop came from the sale of motor vehicles and the non-food goods.
With seasonal, calendar and working day adjustment sales in retail trade including automotive segment decreased in August by 0.3%, at constant prices, m-o-m, and in the year on year comparison they fell by 3.6%. Seasonally non-adjusted sales dropped compared to the corresponding period in 2008 for the eleventh month in a row, by 3.5% (August 2009 had the same number of working days as August 2008). The biggest contribution to the y-o-y drop came from the sale of motor vehicles (including spare parts) and the non-food goods (see table 2).
Seasonally adjusted sales in sale and repair of motor vehicles (CZ-NACE 45) increased by 0.6% at constant prices in the month-on-month comparison and fell by 10.1%, y-o-y. Seasonally non-adjusted sales dropped, y-o-y, by 10.1%, which was by 1 percentage point less than the average drop from the beginning of the year. The sale of motor vehicles decreased (-10.0%) and so did the sales from repair (-10.7%).
In retail sale including sale of automotive fuel (CZ-NACE 47) seasonally adjusted sales decreased, m-o-m, by 0.6% at constant prices and by 0.9%, in the year-on-year comparison. Seasonally non-adjusted sales fell by 1.0%, y-o-y, which was by 0.3 percentage point less than the average drop from the beginning of the year. Sales from the sale of the non-food goods dropped by 3.9% while sales from the sale of automotive fuel increased by 1.8% and sales from the sale of food, beverages and tobacco by 1.7%.

Among items having impact on total results a marked drop was recorded in the sale of household goods and food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores (by 11.2% and 7.8%, respectively). In contrast, sales increase was reported for retail trade via Internet or via mail order houses (+6.2%), for the sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles (+3.8%) and the sale in non specialized stores with food, beverages and tobacco predominating including chain stores (+2.7%).

The price deflator related to the corresponding period in 2008 was 95.1%. The biggest price decrease was recorded in the sale of fuel (-15.9%), information and communication equipment (-9.8%), second-hand goods (-6.4%), clothing and footwear (-4.5%) and the goods in non-specialized stores (-4.1%). In contrast, growing were mainly prices of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles (+1.0%) and other retail trade not in stores, via stalls and markets (+ 0.6%).

In August, according to data released by Eurostat, SA retail sales (CZ-NACE 47) in the EU27 decreased month-on-month by 0.3% at constant prices and, working day adjusted sales dropped by 1.8%, year-on-year. The biggest drops of sales were reported for Latvia (-30.3%), Estonia (-20.6%), Lithuania (-20.3%) and Slovenia (-13.2%). The fastest growths were reported for Poland (+6.8%) and Austria (+1.3%).

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Methodological note:
Contact: Alena Hellerová, tel. (+420) 274052921, e-mail: alena.hellerova@csu.gov.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in enterprises
End of data collection: 5 October 2009
End of data processing: 8 October 2009
The data for August 2009 are preliminary; final data for all months of 2009 will be available in June 2010 at the latest. Monthly data since 2000 (y-o-y indices since 2001) are available in time series
( /sales_indices_monthly_retail_trade_hotels_and_restaurants_time_series ).