Motor-vehicle industry drives retail spending rise

Motor-vehicle industry drives retail spending rise

14 August 2014

Retail spending has continued to rise in the June 2014 quarter, led by an increase in the motor-vehicle and parts retailing industry, Statistics New Zealand said today.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the volume of total retail trade sales rose 1.2 percent in the June 2014 quarter. This follows a 0.8 percent rise in the previous quarter.

“The motor-vehicle and parts retailing industry has driven this quarter's increase in both sales volumes and values, recording their largest increases in two years,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.

Eleven of the 15 industries had higher sales volumes in June. The largest industry movements were:
• motor-vehicle and parts retailing, up 3.6 percent
• food and beverage services, up 2.7 percent
• fuel retailing, down 3.3 percent.

The volume of sales in the core retailing industries (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) rose 1.2 percent.

When the effect of price changes is included, the total value of retail sales rose 1.0 percent ($180 million), with sales rising in ten of the 15 retail industries. For the core retail industries, sales rose 1.3 percent ($180 million).

Looking at the longer-term picture, the trends for both total retail sales volumes and values have generally been rising since mid-2009.

In actual terms, the value of total retail sales was $18.2 billion in the June 2014 quarter, up 3.8 percent compared with the June 2013 quarter.

For more information about these statistics: Visit Retail Trade Survey: June 2014 quarter

ENDS

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