Retail trade sales higher

Retail trade sales measured in constant (2012) prices increased 1.9% year-on-year (y/y) in January from a downwardly revised 2.2% (2.3%) y/y increase in December‚ figures from Statistics SA showed on Wednesday (13 March).

Retail trade sales were expected to increase by 3.7% y/y‚ according to an I-Net Bridge survey of leading economists.

Forecasts among the ten economists polled ranged from 1.5% to 5.8%. Measured in real terms‚ seasonally adjusted retail trade sales fell by 1.2% in January compared with December.

This followed month-on-month changes of 0.4% in December 2012 and 0.8% in November.

The highest annual growth rates were recorded for retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ with 5.6%; all other retailers‚ with 4.0%; and general dealers‚ with 3.0%.

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales decreased by 0.7% in the three months ended January compared with the previous three months.

Retail sales increased by 2.5% in the three months ended January 2013 compared with the three months ended January 2012.

The main contributors to this increase were retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods‚ with a 4.7% rise and a 1.0 percentage point contribution; general dealers who increased 1.7% and contributed 0.6 of a percentage point; and all other retailers‚ with a 4.7% rise and a 0.5 of a percentage point contribution.