Retail Trade - September 2006

In September, seasonally adjusted sales in ‘retail trade except of motor vehicles and motorcycles’ increased by 0.1% month-on-month at constant prices. Not seasonally adjusted sales grew by 4.6% year-on-year, which was the lowest growth since the beginning of the year; sale of non-food goods slowed down only slightly while sale of food, beverages and tobacco decelerated markedly. The biggest contribution to the growth of total sales had specialised stores with household goods and other non-food goods and other retail sale in non-specialised stores.
Seasonally adjusted retail sales (CZ-NACE 52) grew by 0.1% month-on-month at constant prices in September, of which sale of non-food goods by 0.6%, sale of food, beverages and tobacco on the contrary dropped by 0.6%. The trend component, similarly as in the previous two months, was up by 0.3% and from the long-term point of view it shows a gradual slight loss of its dynamics (Table 1).

Seasonally adjusted sales increased by 5.2% year-on-year at constant prices. Not seasonally adjusted sales grew by 4.6% (September 2006 had one working day less than September 2005), which was the lowest this year’s growth so far. Sales of non-food-goods recorded a growth of 6.9% and food, beverages and tobacco of 1.4%.

The following contributed most to the total growth in September: specialised stores with electrical household appliances, hardware, furniture and other household goods, other retail sale in non-specialised stores and specialised stores with books, newspapers and stationery and other retail sale. The fastest growth occurred in stores with textiles, clothing and footwear, which is a continuing phenomenon of the last three years. Growth of sales in specialised stores with books, newspapers and stationery and other retail sale by only 4.5% could have been affected by the fact that consumers showed little interest in purchasing this type of assortment in the previous month (the highest index since the beginning of the year). The decrease was registered in the sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles; and food, beverages and tobacco in specialised stores and sale in stalls and markets and in other non-store sales (Table 3).

Broken down by size group of enterprises, the biggest sale growth occurred in enterprises with 100+ employees (+7.3%). Enterprises in other size groups reported a growth from 2.2% to 3.3%.

The price deflator for retail sales (compared to the corresponding period of previous year) was 100.3%. Higher prices were in stores selling food, beverages and tobacco, in both specialised (+2.3%) and non-specialised (+1.4%), in specialised stores with pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles (+1.7%), with other non-food goods (+0.9%), and in retail sale not in stores (excluding retail sale via mail order houses) (+0.5%). The biggest drop in prices was recorded for specialised stores with textiles, clothing and footwear (-5.8%).

In September, according to data released by Eurostat, seasonally adjusted constant price retail sales in the EU25 were down by 0.2% month-on-month and up by 2.4% year-on-year (working days adjusted). Among member states for which data were available, year-on-year increases in retail sales were observed in Latvia (+19.8%), Slovakia (+10.8%), Poland (+9.6%), Sweden (+8.7%), Finland (+7.1%), Lithuania (+5.8%), Spain (+3.8%), the United Kingdom (+3.1%), Denmark (+2.5%), Portugal (+2.0%), Slovenia (+1.8%), France and Luxembourg (+1.7%), and Austria (+0.8%). The fall was registered in Belgium (-1.6%) and Germany (-0.7%).
In the automotive segment (CZ-NACE 50) not seasonally adjusted sales increased by 6.2% year-on-year at constant prices; sale, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles increased by 8.9% and sale of automotive fuel by 1.9%.

In retail trade incl. the automotive segment (CZ-NACE 52+50) , seasonally adjusted sales at constant prices grew by 0.4% month-on-month and not seasonally adjusted sales by 5.2% year-on-year.

Analysis - Sales in retail trade in the 3rd quarter of 2006

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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: 6 November 2006
End of data processing: 9 November 2006
The data for September 2006 are preliminary. Final data for all months of 2006 will be known in June 2007 at the latest.
Monthly data since 1997 are available as time series ( /produkty/slu_cr )