Retail Trade - February 2010

In February, seasonally adjusted (SA) sales in retail trade including automotive segment decreased month-on-month by 0.5% at constant prices and by 2.9% in the year-on-year comparison. The y-o-y drop of seasonally non-adjusted sales by 2.1% owed mainly to the sale of the non-food goods and fuel.

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With seasonal, calendar and working day adjustment sales in retail trade including automotive segment decreased in February by 0.5%, at constant prices, m-o-m, and by 2.9% in the year-on-year comparison. Seasonally non-adjusted sales were 2.1% down (February 2009 had the same number of working days as February 2010). The drop was more contributed to by retail trade (-1.8 p.p.) than the automotive segment (-0.3 p.p.).

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Seasonally adjusted sales in sale and repair of motor vehicles (CZ-NACE 45) increased by 0.2% at constant prices, m-o-m, and in the year-on-year comparison sales dropped by 3.8%. Seasonally non-adjusted sales fell, y-o-y, by 1.0%, of which sales from repair dropped by 10.7% and sales from the sale of motor vehicles increased by 0.7%. The sale was favourably affected by prices, which compared to February 2009, dropped by 7.6%. A drop in repair might come from the reduced passenger cars traffic because of bad weather conditions and higher fuel prices.

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In retail sale including sale of automotive fuel (CZ-NACE 47) seasonally adjusted sales decreased, m-o-m, by 0.8% at constant prices, and, by 2.6% in the year-on-year comparison. Seasonally non-adjusted sales decreased by 2.5%, y-o-y, of which sales of fuel and the non-food goods dropped by 6.5% and 3.3%, respectively. Sales of food, beverages and tobacco increased by 0.1%.

Among the observed assortments the biggest contribution to the total drop came from household goods in specialized stores (sales dropped by 8.8%) and from the sale of fuel. A drop was reported also for the sale in non-specialized stores with the non-food goods predominating (-7.2%), information and communication equipment (-5.1%), food in specialized stores (-4.1%) and for the sale of pharmaceutical and medical goods (-2.8%). By contrast, an increase was recorded in sales from the sale of goods via the Internet and mail order houses (+3.1%), clothing and footwear (+2.7%) and culture and recreation products (+2.3%). A moderate increase was reported also for the sale in non-specialized stores with food predominating including big chain stores (+0.5%).

The price deflator related to the corresponding period of the previous year was 100.7%. A marked price increase was recorded in the sale of fuel (+17.7%), smaller increase was reported for prices of pharmaceutical and medical goods (+2.6%). By contrast, the biggest price drops were reported for prices of information and communication equipment (-8.8%), second-hand goods (-6.1%), culture and recreation products (-3.9%), clothing and footwear (-3.6%) and for goods sold via the Internet or mail order houses (-3.3 %).

International comparison of retail prices in EU countries will be available on 8 April 2010
( http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/eurostat/home).

Methodological note:
Contact: Alena Hellerová, tel. (+420) 274052921, e-mail: alena.hellerova@czso.cz
Data source: CZSO direct survey in enterprises
End of data collection: 26 March 2010
End of data processing: 1 April 2010
The data for January were revised in compliance with the CZSO policy of revisions, data for February 2010 are preliminary; final data for all months of 2010 will be available in June 2011 at the latest. Base and y-o-y indices from 2000 and 2001 are available in time series
( /csu/czso/sales_indices_monthly_retail_trade_hotels_and_restaurants_time_series ).

Attachments

⇩ amal040610.doc
Annexes:
⇩ Table 1 Retail trade and wholesale & Retail trade & Repair of motor vehicles & Motorcycles (year-on-year indices)
⇩ Table 2 Sales in main assortment types of stores (year-on-year changes, decomposition of increase – year-on-year)
⇩ Graph 1 Retail trade excl. retail sale of automotive fuel (fixed base indices)