Fuel slows May card spending

Fuel slows May card spending
10 June 2016

Retail spending using electronic cards was $4.8 billion in May 2016, up $152 million (3.3 percent) from May 2015, Statistics New Zealand said today. Of the six retail industries, the only decrease in spending was in the fuel industry, down $40 million (6.6 percent).

"Despite recent rises, the price of fuel is still around 10 cents lower than what it was in May last year," business indicators senior manager Neil Kelly said.

When adjusted for seasonal effects, retail spending fell 0.3 percent in May 2016 compared with April 2016. This follows a 0.8 percent rise in April.

The largest movements in May 2016 were:
• fuel, down $8.9 million (1.5 percent)
• consumables, up $7.3 million (0.4 percent)
• hospitality, down $6.4 million (0.7 percent).

Both the fuel and hospitality industries had increases (1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively) in April 2016.

Core retail spending (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) fell 0.1 percent in May 2016, after a 0.3 percent rise in April.

The total value of electronic card spending, including the two non-retail industries (services, and other non-retail), was down 0.6 percent in May. This follows a rise of 1.3 percent in April 2016.

Trends for the total, retail, and core retail series have generally been rising since these series began in October 2002.

Values are only available at the national level, and are not adjusted for price changes.

For more information about these statistics:

• Visit Electronic Card Transactions: May 2016

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