SA retail sales up 2,3% in February

Stats SA reports that South Africa's retail trade sales increased by 2,3% year-on-year in February 2021.

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The largest positive annual growth rates were recorded for retailers in household furniture, appliances and equipment (17,3%); and textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (12,3%).

The main positive contributors to this increase were retailers in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods (contributing 2,0 percentage points); and general dealers (contributing 1,7 percentage points).

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 6,9% in February 2021 compared with January 2021. This followed month-on-month changes of -2,4% in January 2021 and -0,1% in December 2020. In the three months ended February 2021, seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 1,7% compared with the previous three months.

Retail trade sales decreased by 0,9% in the three months ended February 2021 compared with the three months ended February 2020. The main negative contributor to this decrease was all ‘other’ retailers (-18,0% and contributing -2,2 percentage points).