Services - 1. quarter of 2004

Quarter-on-quarter comparison:

Seasonally adjusted constant price sales in services fell by 0.4%, affected particularly by lower retail sales, incl. the automotive segment (-0.9%); also sales in other service activities were down (-2.5%). Sales in the remaining services grew, of which most in hotels and restaurants (+2.9%) and in post and telecommunications (+1.1%).

Year-on-year comparison:

Seasonally adjusted constant price sales in services rose by 5.5% in the 1th quarter of 2004.

Not seasonally adjusted sales were up 5.6%, the main contributors being transport (+9.1%), hotels and restaurants (+8.4%) and computer and related activities (+7.5%).

Sales broken down in a more detailed manner were as follows:

- sales in retail trade, incl. the automotive segment, rose by 1.4%. Sale, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles was down by 5.2%; higher sale of automotive fuel (+4.5%) was not strong enough to prevent the automotive segment from falling (-1.6%). Low sales in January affected the retail trade index for January-March 2004 (only +2.8%), with sale of textiles, clothing and footwear growing most (+10.4%);

- sales in hotels and restaurants increased most in hotels and similar accommodation establishments (+17.6%);

- the dynamic growth of transport, started in the 3rd quarter of 2003, continued. Total sales rose by 9.1%, of which by 6.1% in other land transport, by 14.8% in supporting and auxiliary transport activities and by 15.1% in air transport. Transport via railways recorded a fall of 3.7%;

- sales in post and telecommunications were up 5.4%, of which by 12.0% in post and courier activities and by 4.6% in telecommunications;

- sales in computer and related activities grew by 7.5%, primarily due to high increase in hardware consultancy plus software consultancy and supply (+11.0%). On the other hand, services of data processing plus database activities (-1.0%) and maintenance and repair of office machinery (-2.8%) sold less;

- the continuing trend in other business activities resulted in an increase of 5.1%. Sales in all observed CZ-NACE groups went up, of which most in legal and accounting activities; tax consultancy (+7.3%) and in investigation and security activities (+6.0%);

- sales in other service activities dropped by 3.9%, predominantly due to a fall in hairdressing and other beauty treatment (-6.5%).

Analysis - Services in the 1st quarter of 2004

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Note
Contact: Hellerová Alena, phone (+420) 274052921, e-mail ahellerova@gw.czso.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in enterprises
End of data collection: 6 May 2004
End of data processing: 12 May 2004
Related publications: 9106-04 Results of Monthly Survey in Retail Trade, Hotels and Restaurants
9003-04 Market Services
9301-04 Transport and Communications ( https://csu.gov.cz )
The data are preliminary; revised data will be released in related publications.