Sales in retail trade - 3. quarter of 2006

In Q3 2006, seasonally adjusted retail sales including the automotive segment grew by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter at constant prices, in the automotive segment by 0.5% and in retail trade by 0.9%. Year-on-year, sales increased by 6.3% in total, in the automotive segment by 6.9% and in retail trade by 6.0%.

Working time availability was in Q3 2006 one day lower than in Q3 2005. Not seasonally adjusted sales in retail trade including the automotive segment increased identically as in the previous quarter by 6.1% year-on-year at constant prices. In retail trade sales rose by 5.9% compared to the last two quarters the growth decelerated, however in comparison to the previous year it is still higher.

In Q3 2006, the year-on-year sales in the automotive segment grew by 6.5%, which is an increase of 2.4 percentage points, compared to Q2 2006. The development was mainly influenced by sales and repair of automotive vehicles, which recorded an increase of the growth rate by 7.0 percentage points (+9.4%) compared to the previous quarter. Even though there has been the already mentioned marked acceleration, the Q1 level was not reached. Sale of automotive fuel grew by 2.3% year-on-year (in Q1 and Q2 by 1.1% and 7.4%, respectively).

According to the Automotive Industry Association statistics, the number of first registrations of vehicles rose by 24.8% in Q3 2006, of which the number of new vehicles increased by 10.4% and used vehicles by 39.3%. The increase of the number of used vehicles is connected with the amendment to the law on road transport (valid since 1 July 2006). The Ministry of Transport responded to the attitude of the European Commission (EC) and changed conditions for the import of used vehicles. According to the EC, the existing restriction of the age of vehicles was not compatible with the free movement of goods. The number of vehicle registrations grew in almost all of the categories; a decrease was only recorded in registration of used commercial vehicles (trucks).
During Q3 2006, the growth rate in retail sales decelerated (from 7.0% in July to 4.6% in September). The growth occurred in all of the observed size groups, the highest was in enterprises with 100 and more employees, the lowest in enterprises with 20 to 49 employees. The biggest contribution (approximately 30% share) to the growth had mostly non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating. Sales in stores with non-food goods predominating increased by 8.2% and their share in total growth represented 13.3%. The highest growth was reached in stores with clothing, textiles and footwear (+15.5%), a decrease on the other hand was recorded in sale in stalls and markets and in other non-store sales, specialised sale of food, tobacco and beverages and sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles. Similarly as in the previous five quarters, sales of non-food goods grew faster than sales of food, beverages or tobacco.

The growth of sales of food, beverages and tobacco was in Q3 2006 was the lowest since the beginning of the year. In September they increased only by 1.4%, which represents the lowest growth since July 2005. Similarly as in the previous quarter, sales grew only in non-specialised stores with food, beverages or tobacco predominating. The decrease in specialised stores deepened even more (in Q2 by 0.5%, in Q3 by 1.3%). Broken down by size group of enterprises, in the food sector sales increased only in enterprises with 100 and more employees (6.0%). Enterprises in other size groups recorded a drop from 1.3 to 4.0 percentage points.


Sales of non-food goods participated on the extraordinary growth of retail sales by more than two thirds and grew by 7.4%. Compared to the average in the beginning of the year, similarly as in the food sector, the growth rate slowed down. Specialised stores with non-food goods contributed to the given development by approximately 60%, of which the most stores with furniture, electrical household appliances and hardware and stores with other non-food goods The fastest growth occurred in sale of textiles, clothes and footwear and the highest growth was recorded in enterprises with 100 and more employees.