Sales have been increasing since August. Nominal revenue increased by 0.93% in November. Both are seasonally adjusted comparisons, relative to October.  In relation to November 2005, sales and revenue increased by 9.22% and 9.09%, respectively.

In November 2006, Retail Trade changed by 0.56% for volume of sales and by 0.93% for nominal revenue, in the seasonally adjusted month/previous month comparison. In the other comparisons (without seasonal adjustment), the rates for volume of sales were 9.22%, in comparison with November 2005; 6.25%, accumulated in the year; and 6.10%, accumulated in the last 12 months. The nominal revenue increased by 9.09% in relation to the same month in 2005, had change of 7.50% accumulated in the year and of 7.58% accumulated in the last 12 months, also in relation to the previous period.

It was the fourth consecutive increase of seasonal adjusted Retail Trade rates in relation to the previous month, with continuation of the growing trend observed since August. There was, however, some loss of rhythm in the last two months. In the seasonally adjusted series, calculated for four of the eight activities of the sector, there were only two positive results: Textiles, apparel and footwear, 5.74%; Fuels and Lubricants, 2.05%; Furniture and Household Appliances, 0.51%; and Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco, 0.22%. In the same comparison, the activity vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces, which belongs to Extended Retail Trade, increased by 1.01% (Table 1).

In relation to November 2005, there was increase of the volume of sales of six of the eight retail activities (in order of importance): Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco, 9.17%; Furniture and household appliances, 14.86%; Other articles of personal and domestic use, 23.90%; Textiles, apparel and footwear, 7.01%; Office, computer  and communication equipment and material, 22.67%; Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles, 3.42%; Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles, -3.11%; Fuels and lubricants, -2.58%.

In November 2006, the volume of sales of the activity Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco increased by 9.17% in relation to the previous month, a result which represented almost half of the overall retail rate this month (Table 3). The accumulated rates in the year and in the last 12 month were 7.64% and 7.01%, respectively. This performance reflects the increase of the purchasing power of the population due to the increase of salary mass and to the stability of the prices of basic goods.  

In November, the activity Furniture and household appliances was the second major impact on the result f Retail Trade, with change of 14.86% of the volume of sales in comparison with last November. With this result the activity reached rates of 10.39% and 10.74% in terms of figures accumulated in the year and in the last 12 months, respectively, due to favorable conditions to consumer credit, improvement of the real income and fall of prices caused by the competition with imported goods.

The activity Other articles of personal and domestic use, which was the third biggest impact n the overall retail rate, increased by 23.90%, in terms of volume of sales, in relation to October 2005. Encompassing segments such as department stores, glasses shops, jewelry shops, sporting goods stores, toy stores and others, this activity had its performance affected by the overall improvement of the economic scenario, and accumulated increase of 17.64% compared to the same period in 2005, and 17.46% in the last 12 months.

The fourth biggest contribution to the overall result was that of the activity Textiles, apparel and footwear, which has increased again this month, with change of 7.01% in the volume of sales in comparison wit the previous year. This result, however, had low effect on the accumulated performance of the activity. This rate is still significantly below the average, with rates of 1.95% for the first eleven months of the year and 2.94% for the last 12 months.

The volume of sales of Office, computer and communication equipment, which was the fifth biggest impact n the result of retail trade, increased by 22.67% in comparison with November 2005. The rates accumulated in the year and in the last 12 months were, respectively, 32.25% and 37.32%. Among the factors which influenced the performance of this activity was the significant fall of prices of computer goods, as well as their increasing presence in the personal consumption of durable goods. An example of this was the 11.5% reduction of the prices of PC’s, between December 2005 and January 2006, as shown by IPCA.

The activity Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles, the sixth biggest contributor to the overall retail rate, increased by 3.24% in relation to November 2005, having accumulated 3.96% in the year and 4.34% in the last 12 months.

The volume of sales of Books, newspapers, magazines and stationary articles fell once more: -3.11% in comparison with the same month in 2005, after a period of two months with positive rates. The rates accumulated in the year, 094%, and in the last 12 months, 0.57%, caused this activity to have the lowest positive result by sector in 2006.

Concerning Fuels and lubricants, there was volume of sales once more (2.58% in relation to November 2005). The deceleration started in August 06 was maintained, though, due to the decrease of the rhythm of rise of prices of fuels in the last few months. In terms of accumulated results, the changes were -8.33% in the year, and -8.24% in the last 12 months. The negative performance of the activity for the second consecutive year is basically due to the reduction of the supply of automotive fuels, with subsequent change in its consumption: the main item (gasoline) has been systematically replaced by cheaper options (alcohol and natural gas, especially). The whole process has become easier the expansion of the fleet of flex-fuel cars.

Twenty-six of the 27 Federative Units had increase of the volume of sales in comparison with November 2005, and the main changes occurred in Acre (42.08%); Alagoas (39.45%); Amapá (26.54%); Roraima (21.36%); and Tocantins (19.18%). The only decrease in the month occurred in Mato Grosso (-4.99%) – Graph 3. Concerning the participation in the overall rate, the highlights, in order, were: São Paulo (8.40%); Rio de Janeiro (10.55%); Minas Gerais (12.12%); Bahia (13.40%); and Santa Catarina (10.14%).

Still by Federative Unit, the seasonally adjusted result for the volume of sales, in relation to the previous month, point to 23 positive changes and 4 decreases. The main gains occurred in Acre (6.79%); Amazonas (4.04%); Federal district (3.80%); Tocantins (3.61%) and Rio de Janeiro (3.23%). The decreases occurred in Roraima (-3.13%); Rio Grande do Sul (-1.05%); Amapá (-0.89%); and São Paulo (-0.07%).

In terms of Extended Retail Trade (retail trade and the activities Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces and Construction material) the changes in relation to November of 2005 were 10.22% for volume of sales and 9.74% for nominal revenue. In terms of the rate accumulated in the year and in the last 12 months, the rates were 6.46% and 6.11% for volume of sales and 7.72% and 7.59% for nominal revenue, respectively.

Considering volume of sales, the activity Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces increased 12.22% in comparison with November 2005. The figures accumulated in the year and in the last 12 months were 7.14% and 6.52%, respectively. The acceleration of the fall of interest rates throughout 2006 became one of the essential factors to the increase of sales in the segment in the second semester of 2006 (Graph 9). The segment Construction material finished its seventh consecutive month with increase, with change of 10.42% compared to November 2005. This reflects, mainly, the official measures intended to stimulate construction. The accumulated rates reached 5.93% in the year and 4.37% in the last 12 months.

By Federative Unit, still in relation to Extended Retail Trade, the main performance rates of volume of sales were those of Acre (71.51%); Amapá (48.26%); Pará (34.80%); Tocantins (33.77%); and Rondônia (33.28%). In terms of impact on the overall rate of the sector, the highlights were: São Paulo (5.64%); Rio de Janeiro (10.41%); Minas Gerais (13.09%); Paraná (11.32%); and Bahia (14.50%).