Core industries lift retail sales in May

In May 2009, seasonally adjusted total retail sales rose 0.8 percent ($41 million), Statistics New Zealand said today. This is the largest monthly increase since November 2007 and is due to a 1.6 percent ($65 million) rise in core retailing, more than offsetting a 1.8 percent ($25 million) drop in the vehicle-related industries.

The increase in core retailing was dominated by two industries: supermarket and grocery stores (up 2.2 percent or $27 million) and clothing and softgoods retailing (up 12.6 percent or $25 million). These rises contributed to the largest increase in core retailing since February 2007.

Thirteen of the 20 core industries had increased sales in May 2009, while seven had decreases. Only four of the 20 industries had sales movements up or down exceeding $5 million.

The core retail sales trend has been rising since September 1995. Between April 2007 and January 2009, the average rate of increase slowed to 0.1 percent per month, but latest figures suggest that since January 2009 there has been a slight pick-up – to 0.2 percent per month. The trend in total retail sales has been in general decline since January 2008 but has currently flattened. Initial trend estimates may be revised and should be used with caution until more data points are available.

Sales by region were mixed in May 2009, with half up and half down from April. In total, sales were slightly up in the South Island and slightly down in the North Island. Sales trends for the two islands indicate that sales are flat in the South (up just 0.7 percent since January 2008) and have flattened (after a year of declines) in the North Island.