SA May retail trade sales up 6.4 y/y

Growth in SA's retail trade sales at constant prices jumped to 6.4% year on year (y/y) after a revised 1.1% [1.0%] growth in April‚ figures released today, 18 July 2012, by Statistics SA showed.

Retail trade sales growth for May was expected to come in at 5.2% y/y‚ according to a survey of leading economists by I-Net Bridge.

Forecasts among the seven economists ranged from 0.3% to 9.0%.

Measured in real terms‚ seasonally adjusted retail trade sales decreased 0.8% in May compared with April.

This followed month-on-month changes of 0.8% in April and 2.1% in March.

In terms of the 6.4% y/y growth in May‚ the highest annual growth rates were recorded for retailers in hardware‚ paint and glass‚ at 11.1%; and retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ at 11.0%; and the 'all other' retailers category‚ at 9.8%.

In real terms‚ retail trade for the three months ended May reflected an increase of 4.7% compared with the three months ended May 2011.

The largest contributors were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ at 8.0% and contributing 1.7 percentage points; general dealers‚ at 3.0% and contributing 1.1 percentage points; and 'all other' retailers‚ at 6.8% and contributing 0.8 percentage points.