Growth in SA's retail trade sales at constant prices was much better than expected in November‚ increasing by 3.4% year on year (y/y) after a downwardly revised 0.9% (1.0%) year on year increase in October‚ figures released on Wednesday by Statistics SA showed.
Retail trade sales were expected to have increased by 1.5% y/y‚ according to a survey of leading economists by I-Net Bridge.
Forecasts among the eight economists polled ranged from 0.3% to 3.0%.
Measured in real terms‚ seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 0.9% in November compared with October.
This followed month-on-month changes of -1.8% in October and -0.4% in September.
The main contributors to the 3.4% increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear‚ and leather goods‚ contributing 1.8 percentage points; all other retailers‚ contributing 0.8 of a percentage point; and retailers in food‚ beverages and tobacco in specialized stores‚ contributing 0.6 of a percentage point.
The highest annual growth rates were recorded for retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ with 8.0%; retailers in household furniture‚ appliances and equipment‚ with 6.4%; all other retailers with 6.4%; and retailers in food‚ beverages and tobacco in specialized stores‚ with 5.9%.
Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales rose by 3.0% in the three months ended November last year compared with the three months ended November 2011‚ and remained constant in the three months ended November last year compared with the previous three months.
The main contributors to the 3.0% increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ with a 5.7% rise and a 1.2 percentage points contribution; and retailers in food‚ beverages and tobacco in specialized stores which increased 4.7% and contributed 0.5 of a percentage point.