SA December retail trade sales up 3.5% y/y

Retail trade sales measured in constant (2012) prices rose by a more than expected 3.5% year-on-year (y/y) in December from a revised 4.4% (4.2%) y/y increase in November‚ figures from Statistics SA showed on Wednesday (12 February).

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Retail trade sales were expected to have increased by 2.8% y/y‚ according to a survey of leading economists by I-Net Bridge. Forecasts among the eight economists polled ranged from a rise of 1.0% to 4.1%.

Measured in real terms‚ seasonally adjusted retail trade sales rose 1.4% between November and December.

This followed month-on-month changes of 1.5% in November and -0.2% in October.

The main contributors to the 3.5% increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods (contributing 1.4 percentage points)‚ retailers in hardware‚ paint and glass (contributing 1.1 percentage points) and general dealers (contributing 0.9 of a percentage point).

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 1.2% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared with the previous quarter.

Retail trade sales increased by 3.1% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared with the fourth quarter of 2012.

The main contributors to this increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods (7.6% and contributing 1.7 percentage points); and general dealers (2.7% and contributing 1.0 percentage point).