The positive results in relation to November are seasonally adjusted. The series without seasonal adjustment showed sales increase of 4.28% in relation to December 2004 and of 4.76% accumulated in 2005. Considering the same comparisons, the rates for nominal revenue of sales were 7.47% and 10.15%, respectively. The data are summarized in tables 1 and 2 .

The change of 1.19% in the volume of sales is the most significant result of retail trade in the second semester of 2005. The same indicator, calculated for four of the eight activities which form the sector, had positive results for Textiles, apparel and footwear (2.58%); Fuels and lubricants (1.83%); Furniture and household appliances (0.39%). The activity Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco fell (-0.48%). The activity Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and accessories, which belongs to extended retail trade, increased by 5.66% in comparison with the November figure.

In the comparison December 05/December 04, the volume of sales of six among eight activities of retail trade increased: Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (0.41%); Furniture and household appliances (9.43%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (8.27%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles (8.09%); Office, computer and communication equipment (98.90%); Other articles of personal and domestic use (16.25%). The negative changes occurred in Fuels and lubricants (-7.76%) and Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (-2.44%).

Once more, the main positive impact on the formation of the December rate for volume of sales was Furniture and household appliances, with change of 9.43%. The rate accumulated in the year for this activity was 16.02%, a result lower than that of 2004 (26.41%). Favorable conditions to consumer credit and loans charged through salary accounts were the main factors contributing to the increase of sales of Furniture and household appliances, as had already occurred in 2004.

The activity Other articles of personal and domestic use, was the second most relevant impact on the result of trade (change of 16.25% in terms of volume of sales compared to December 2004). Encompassing segments which are also affected by consumer credit (department stores, glasses shops, sporting goods stores, toy stores, etc), the group had a performance above average, accumulating in the year a rate of 14.82% in relation to 2004.

The third major impact was Textiles, apparel and footwear (8.27%) over December 2004 Accumulated in the year, the segment grew by 5.87% above the overall result of retail trade (4.76%). The fourth most important influence was Office, computer and communication equipment (98.90%). The activity had an increase of 54.01% of sales accumulated in 2005. Besides being a consequence of better credit conditions, the rate is also explained by the raise of the value of the Brazilian currency (Real) in relation to the dollar, a factor which has caused computer products and other imported ones to be relatively cheaper.

With 8.09% of increase of volume of sales over December 04, the activity Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles was the fifth major contribution to the formation of the overall rate. In terms of the rate accumulated in the year, the result surpassed the average of retail trade: increase of 6.07% over 2004.

Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco

, which is usually one of the main contributor to the overall result, represented the sixth major influence (from 0.41% of increase in December 2005 compared to the same month in 2004). The result can be explained by the influence exerted on the activity by Christmas sales. The increase of real average income of employed persons in the main metropolitan areas in the country (1.8% over the previous month and 5.8% in relation to December 2004), shown in the December edition of IBGE’s Monthly Employment survey, stimulated sales in other segments. In 2005, the activity accumulated increase of 2.93%, inferior to that of 2004 (7.21’%).

The negative results of sales in the relation December 05/December 04 were those of Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (monthly change of –2.24% and accumulated change of 1.53%) and Fuels and lubricants (-7.76% and –7.40% respectively), whose rates were negative for the twelfth consecutive month.

In terms of quarterly results, which have as reference the same periods of time as in the previous year, there was fall of volume of sales from the third (5.54%) to the last quarter of the year (4.30%). The deceleration was determined by the behavior of the following activities: Hypermarkets supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (whose rate changed from 3.96% to 1.31%); Furniture and household appliances (from 15.28% to 11.46%); Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (from 4.24% to -0.01%) The activity Office, computer and communication equipment had positive change in terms of sales from 60.15% in the third quarter to 77.88% in the fourth one. The remaining segments had little significant fall in this period.

In the analysis by area, 24 of the 27 states had positive results in terms of volume of sales in the comparison December 05/December 04. The main changes occurred in Sergipe (38.00%); Tocantins (35.38%); Piauí (33.92%); Rio Grande do Norte (29.89%) and Roraima (26.62%). There was fall in Paraná (-2.23%) and in Rio Grande do Sul (-5.63%); and no change in Santa Catarina. The seasonally adjusted for sales, in the comparison month/previous month, are: 17 states with positive sales and 10 with falls. Espírito Santo (5.03%); Roraima (4.68%); Goiás (3.40%); Piauí (3.39%) and Paraíba (2.86%) were the biggest hikes. The highlights in terms of negative rates were Acre (-3.85%); Tocantins (-2.21%); Amazonas (-1.34%) and Santa Catarina (-1.21%).

In extended retail trade (retail trade plus Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and accessories and Construction material), there was increase of 2.84% in volume and of 6.07% in nominal revenue of sales, in the comparison December 05/December 04. The changes accumulated in 2005 were 3.07% and 9.56%, respectively. Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and accessories increased by 0.87% over December/04 in terms of volume of sales; the change accumulated in the year was 1.58%. Construction material kept on a downward trend, with changes of 5.58% and 6.06%, respectively.

In the analysis by quarter, the volume of sales of retail trade remained practically constant in terms of average performance from the third to the last quarter of 2005 (changes of 2.69% and 2.74%, respectively). There was improvement of the performance of Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and accessories (from –0.45% to 1.07%); Construction Material still had a negative rate, but the decrease was lower: -8.51% in the third quarter and - 5.52% in the fourth one.

Still in relation to extended retail trade, the major rates of volume of sales occurred in Tocantins (40.42%); Sergipe (32.78%); Roraima (31.23%); Piauí (30.59%) and Rio Grande do Norte (29.52%).