Nominal revenue grows 13.40%. Sales and revenue accumulate, respectively, 9.27% and 12.24% in the year and 7.76% and 11.88% in the last twelve months. The volume of sales increased in 25 of the 27 Federation Units and in four of the five main retail trade activities.

In October, retail trade in the country recorded hike of 13.40% in terms of nominal trade and of 8.46% in volume of sales. These rates recorded slight decrease in relation to September (Graph 1). The cumulative indexes in the year (9.27% in volume of sales and 12.24% in nominal revenue) were very close to those registered from January to September (9.36% and 12.10%, respectively). Considering the cumulative index in the last 12 months, revenue (11.88%) headed stabilization, and volume of sales 97.76%) remained on an upward trend.

In relation to October 2003, volume of sales increased in 25 of the 27 Federation Units. The highest rates were those of Amazonas (20.60%), Mato Grosso (20.03%), Acre (17.16%), Mato Grosso do Sul (13.22%) and Alagoas (13.19%). The main decreases came from Roraima (-6.07%) and Goiás (-0.43%). The main contributions to the overall retail rate came from São Paulo (7.41%), Minas Gerais (9.97%), Rio Grande do Sul (9.94%), Rio de Janeiro (6.75%), Paraná (10,46) and Santa Catarina (10.87%).

Among the five retail trade activities (series which started in 2000), four recorded increase of volume of sales in relation to October 2003: Furniture and household appliances (20.40%); Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (10.65%); Fuels and lubricants (1.35%) and Vehicles, motorcycles, pieces and accessories (9.91%). The segment of Textiles, apparel and footwearrecorded decrease (-1.43%). The last three segments recorded monthly rates below those of September (Table 1).

In October, among the new activities surveyed (sample defined in 2003), there was hike of volume of sales of Other articles of personal and domestic use (10.41%) and Pharmaceutical, medical and orthopedic articles, toiletries and cosmetics (0.13%) and rates in both of them fell in relation to those in September. There was decrease of volume of sales in Construction material (-4.01%); Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (-4.08%) and Office, computer and communication material and equipment (-17.65%) (Table 2).

The segment of Hypermarkets, spermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco remained, in October, as the main influence on retail trade, with increase of 10.65% in volume of sales, over the same month in the previous year. This increase reflects the evolution of employment and income estimated by the onthly Employment Survey in the second semester, for the group of six Metropolitan Areas, and led to the expansion of cumulative rates, between September and October, from 6.19% to 6.65% (cumulative in the year) and from 4.10% to 5.39% (cumulative in the last 12 months).

The specific activity of Hypermarkets and supermarkets, besides keeping the increase which started in September, recorded volume of sales slightly above the group, with changes of 11.31% over october 2003, of 6.91% cumlative in the year and 5.57% cumulative in the last 12 months.

The expansion of 20.40% of volume of sales of Furniture and household appliances, in relation to October 2003, is practically the same rate (20.30%) obtained by the activity in September. Having remained at a lower level in the last two months, the segment faced decrease of the pace of cumulative increase in the year, the rate of which changed from 28.58% to 27.60% between September and October 2004. Regarding cumulative figures in the last 12 months, however, the rate of Furniture and household appliancesremains on an upward trend: 25.16%. The expansion of credit remains as the main factor to cause the segments to have increase rates above the general average of retail trade.

In October, the volume of sales of Fuels and lubricants (1.35%) decelerated again in terms of pace of increase. The cumulative index in the year remains on a downward trend (5.30% in October, versus 5.78% in September), but the cumulative index in the last 12 months remained on an upward trend (from 3.87% in September to 4.41% in October).

The decrease (-1.43%) in volume of sales of Textiles, apparel and footwear, in October, shows again the scenario of performance rates, which started five years before in this activity (Graph 6). There is also slight decrease of the cumulative rate in the year, which fell from 6.03% in September, to 5.22% in October. The cumulative index in 12 months, on the other hand, is stable, with change of 3.76% in October.

In October, the monthly performance of the volume of sales of the segment Vehicles, motorcycles, pieces and accessories faced the biggest decrease: from 15.41% in September to 9.91% this month, a 5.5 percentage point decrease. This deceleration occurred mainly due to the highe basis for comparison: 4.06% of increase between September and October 2003 versus decrease of 0.90% from september to October 2004. The deceleration of increase is also visible in the cumulative figure in the year: 17.77% in October versus 18.77% in September. As seen in other activities, the cumulative index in thelast 12 months has remained on an upward trend: 16.50% up to October, about 1.3 percentage points above the September rate.

In October, the group Other articles of personal and domestic use had the highest performance rate among the activities surveyed since 2003: 10.41% in volume of sales. As seen in other segemnts, however, this activity had higher deceleration, observable in the continuous decrease of the cumulative index in the year: from 18.10% in September to 17.19% in October 2004.

The segment of Pharmaceutical, medical and othopedic articles, toiletries and cosmetics was the other new activity with positive rates in October. Its volume of sales increased 0.13% in relation to October 2003 and 8.18% cumulative in the year. Despite the positive performance, the pace of increase of this year still decreases, both in terms of the monthly indicator and of that cumulative in the year (Table 2).

The volume of sales of Wholesale and retail of construction material faced deceleration of increase for the second consecutive month (-4.01%). The cumulative index in the year, relatively low due to a negative beginning of year, fell eben more this month: 1.96% versus 2.69% in the period January-September.

There was another decrease (4.08%) in the volume of sales of Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles in October, and this activity had recorded -4.01% in September. As a result, the cumulative index in the year was even more reduced: -2.14%, versus -1.96% in the period January-September.

Finally, the volume of sales of Office, computer and communication material and equipment faced the biggest retraction among the activities surveyed by the Monthly Survey of Trade: from 11.17% in September to -17.65% in October. As a consequence, the cumulative index in the year recorded, up to October: 1.96% versus 2.69% in the period January-September.

Being responsible for almost 50% of the gross revenue of national retail trade, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo had, in october, volume of sales below that of the country: Rio recorded a change from 5.74% in September to 6.75%, and São paulo, from 9.48% to 7.41%. The activity Fuels and lubricants accounted for the difference of behavior of both: decrease (-6.41%) of volume of sales in Rio and increase (3.06%) in São Paulo.

In terms of the cumulative index in the year, Rio de Janeiro (7.27%) still presents decrease below that of São Paulo (8.93%). The two Federation Units maintain practically stable the cumulative indexes in the year, and have expanded the cumulative rates of the last 12 months: 5.24% in Rio de Janeiro and 7.36% in São Paulo.