SA July retail trade sales up 2.4% y/y

Retail sales rose a much more than expected 2.4% year-on-year in July after contracting by 0.9% in June‚ Statistics SA figures showed on Wednesday, 17 September 2014.

A BDpro median consensus forecast from a survey of six economists had expected retail sales to increase by 0.8%.

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 1.2% month on month in July 2014 following a monthly contraction of 0.9% in June and an increase of 0.7% in May.

The main contributors to the 2.4% increase were general dealers (contributing 0.9 of a percentage point) and retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods (contributing 0.9 of a percentage point).

Seasonally adjusted retail trade sales increased by 0.6% in the three months ended July 2014 compared with the previous three months.

Retail trade sales increased by 1.4% in the three months ended July 2014 compared with the three months ended July 2013 mainly due to higher sales by general dealers; and retailers in textiles‚ clothing‚ footwear and leather goods.

Source: BDpro via I-Net Bridge