Retail Trade - July 2008

In July, seasonally adjusted (SA) sales in retail trade except automotive segment fell by 0.6% month-on-month at constant prices; the year-on-year increase was 1.0%, not seasonally adjusted (NSA) increase 3.4%. The biggest contribution to the growth of sales came from the sale of books, newspapers and stationery, other retail sale in specialised stores and sale of furniture, lighting equipment and household articles, electrical appliances, radio and television goods, hardware, paints and glass in specialized stores. In the automotive segment, SA sales at constant prices were down by 3.9% m-o-m and down by 2.2% y-o-y; NSA sales grew by 4.0% y-o-y. SA sales in hotels and restaurants dropped by 0.6% m-o-m and NSA sales decreased by 3.0% y-o-y.
SA sales in retail trade (CZ-NACE 52) at constant prices decreased by 0.6% month-on-month; sale of food, beverages and tobacco fell by 1.5% and sale of non-food goods stagnated. The trend component grew by 0.1% m-o-m, but its growth rate was on the decrease from February 2007 and actually stagnated from January 2008 (Table 3).

Graph 1
Year-on-year, adjusted for seasonal and working day effects (July 2008 had three working days more than July 2007), sales in retail trade increased by 1.0% at constant prices; adjusted only for working day effects, they fell by 0.6%. NSA sales in retail trade increased by 3.4%, of which the sale of non-food goods was up by 6.6% and the sale of food, beverages and tobacco down by 1.0%.

Total growth of sales was most contributed to by the sale of books, newspapers and stationery, other retail sale in specialised stores and sale of furniture, lighting equipment, household articles, electrical appliances, radio and television goods, hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores; the growth was slowed down by the sale of food, beverages and tobacco. The most rapid growth was recorded for insignificant retail sale via the Internet or mail order houses; marked increases (ranging between 5.4% and 7.9%) were registered for sale of non-food goods in all specialised stores (see Table 2).

The price deflator related to July 2007 was 103.8%. The biggest price increase was recorded in stores with food, beverages and tobacco, of which in specialized stores by 9.6% and in non-specialized stores by 7.8%. Prices in retail sale via stalls and markets and other non-store retail sale and in sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles grew by 5.2%, and prices in non-specialised stores with non-food goods predominating increased by 2.7%. In contrast, price decreases were recorded in sale via mail order houses (-1.3%), sale of second-hand goods in stores (-1.2%), sale of textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (-1.1%), sale of furniture, lighting equipment, household articles, electrical appliances, radio and television goods, hardware, paints and glass (-0.7%) and in sale of books, newspapers and stationery, other retail sale in specialised stores (-0.3%).

In July, according to data released by Eurostat, SA retail sales at constant prices in the EU27 were up by 0.1% month-on-month and down by 1.1% year-on-year (working days adjusted). Among the member states for which data were available, year-on-year sales increases were recorded in Romania (+18.4%), Slovakia (+6.8%), Poland (+6.6%), Lithuania and Bulgaria (both +6.0%), Slovenia (+4.6%), the United Kingdom (+2.2%), Portugal (+1.9%), Finland (+1.5%), Sweden (+1.4%) and Austria (+0.2%). Sales fell in Latvia (-8.5%), Luxembourg and Spain (both -5.9%), Denmark (-5.3%), Estonia (-4.5%), Germany (-3.3%) and Belgium (-0.3%).
In the automotive segment (CZ-NACE 50), SA sales at constant prices decreased by 3.9% month-on-month and by 2.2% year-on-year. NSA sales increased by 4.0% year-on-year, both in sale, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles and sale of automotive fuel.

In retail trade, incl. the automotive segment (CZ-NACE 52 + 50), SA sales at constant prices decreased by 1.7% month-on-month and by 0.1% year-on-year. NSA sales grew by 3.6% year-on-year.

In hotels and restaurants (CZ-NACE 55), SA sales at constant prices dropped by 0.6% month-on-month. NSA sales decreased by 3.0 % year-on-year; sales in hotels, camping sites and other provisions of short-stay accommodation decreased by 7.2% and in restaurants, canteens and catering by 1.2%. Especially sales in hotels fell.

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Notes
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: 5 September 2008
End of data processing: 10 September 2008
The data for July 2008 are preliminary, data for the previous months are not revised; 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 )