In June, retail trade changed by 0.4% in terms of volume of sales and by 0.8% in terms of nominal revenue of trade; for the sixth consecutive time, there were seasonally adjusted positive results in comparison with the previous month.

In June, retail trade changed by 0.4% in terms of volume of sales and by 0.8% in terms of nominal revenue of trade; for the sixth consecutive time, there were seasonally adjusted positive results in comparison with the previous month. With this result, accumulated increase rates in the first semester of the year were 5.1% and 7.2%. In comparison with the same period in the previous year, for the series without adjustment, the percentages for volume of sales were 11.8%, in June, 9.9%, accumulated in the year, and 8.2%, accumulated in the last twelve months. In relation to nominal trade, for the same periods, there were increases by, respectively, 14.3%, 10.6% and 8.7%. The changes in extended retail trade in June, in comparison with the same month in the previous year, were 17.4% and 18.7% for volume of sales and nominal revenue of sales, respectively. Considering the indicator accumulated in the semester, there was the same figure for both volume of sales and nominal revenue of sales (13.6%). In the last twelve months, the same variables had rates of 10.9% and 11.0%, respectively.

With changes by 0.4% and 0.8% for volume and nominal revenue of sales in June, retail trade remained on a growing trend, which is reflected in the evolution of the quarterly moving average of the fixed-base indicator. Still with reference to the seasonally adjusted series, calculated for the four of the eight activities which form the sector, the results for volume of sales were: 0.2% for Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco; 0.1% for Fuels and lubricants; 0.0% for Textiles, apparel and footwear; and 1.2% for Furniture and household articles.

Increase of sales in the retail trade segment

In June, there was increase of the volume of sales of all the retail trade activities in comparison with the same month in the previous year. In order of importance to the overall result, the rates were: 8.5% for Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco; 16.2% for Furniture and household articles; 28.9% for Other articles of personal and domestic use; 16.6% for Textiles, apparel and footwear; 5.9% for Fuels and lubricants; 11.0% for Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles, and cosmetics; 24.3% for Office, computer and communication material and equipment; and 9.5% for Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles.

Recent increases in hypermarkets and supermarkets

Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco accounted, once more, for the highest contributions to the overall result, with increase of 8.5% in terms of volume of sales in June, compared to the same month in the previous year. This segment accounted for 37% of the retail trade rate. The accumulated rates of this activity in the first six months of the year and in the last twelve months were 7.0% and 7.3%, respectively. This performance reflected the rise of the population’s purchasing power, mainly due to the increase of salary mass, besides the renewal of demand for foreign products. These factors have contributed to the fall of prices as a consequence of the higher value of the Brazilian currency (Real) in the market.

Accumulated rate for furniture and household articles in the first semester was 16.5%

With change by 16.2% in the volume of sales in June, in comparison with the same month in the pervious year, the activity Furniture and household articles represented the second major impact. It accounted for 20% of the overall retail trade rate in the month (Table 3). In terms of accumulated results, the percentages were 16.5% in the first semester and 13.7% in the last twelve months. This result occurred due to the favorable credit conditions, real revenue, employment and prices.

Other articles of personal and domestic use changed by 28.9%

As the third major impact on the formation of retail trade rate, Other articles of personal and domestic use, which encompasses department stores, glasses shops, jewelry shops, sporting goods stores and toy stores, changed by 28.9% in terms of volume of sales in relation to June 2006, accounting for 17% of the overall rate.

Textiles, apparel and footwear reach 16.6% in June

The fourth biggest contribution to the overall result was that of Textiles, apparel and footwear, with change by 16.6% in terms of volume of sales in comparison with the previous year. The sector was stimulated by the increase of sales of winter apparel and in the period approaching the Valentine’s Day, and also by the improvement of the macroeconomic scenario. In terms of accumulated rates, there were rates of 10.1% in the first quarter this year and of 5.1% in the last twelve months.

With change by 5.9% in June, in comparison with the same month in 2006, Fuels and lubricants had the fifth best performance of retail trade and the sixth positive rate after two consecutive years of falling results. The restart of increase is a consequence of the stability of fuel prices in the last few months, and of the improvement of economy. From January to June, the accumulated index was 5.5%; in the last twelve months, it was -0.7%.

The activity Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles, with the sixth biggest level of participation in the overall rate of retail trade, increased by 11.0% in comparison with June 2006, with accumulated rates of 7.1% and 5.1% in the last 12 months. The increase of salary mass and the diversity of products offered account for this positive performance.  

Office material, computer and communication equipment sales increased by 24.3%

The activity Office, computer and communication material and equipment, with the seventh highest impact, obtained increase of 24.3% in the volume of sales in comparison with the same month in the previous year; the accumulated results in the semester and in the last 12 months were, respectively, 22.3% and 22.5%. The fall of prices in the products and the growing importance of communication in the household consumption explain this result.

The lowest impact in retail trade was that of Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles, with increase of 9.6% in volume of sales in comparison with the same period in 2006. In the first semester, the rate was 6.1%; in the last twelve months, it was 3.5%.

Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces grew by 31.8% in June

The activity Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces, which forms the retail segment, and the activity Construction material, which forms extended retail trade, grew by 31.8% in June in comparison with the same month in the previous year. The rate accumulated in the semester reached 22.8% and, in the last twelve months, 17.3%. In Construction material, the changes were 11.5% in June in comparison with the same month in 2006; 9.7% accumulated in the first six months of the year; 9.8% accumulated in the last twelve months.

ANALYSIS BY AREA

Among the twenty-seven states, only Piauí (-0.6%) had negative results in June 2007, compared to the same month in the previous year. The main highlights, with the biggest positive changes were: Alagoas (25.4%); Pará (16.3%); Sergipe (16.0%); Amapá (15.9%) and Maranhão (15.5%) - Graph 3. In terms of the participation in the formation of the retail trade rate, the highlights, in order, were: São Paulo (15.1%); Rio de Janeiro (8.3%); Rio Grande do Sul (9.1%); Bahia (15.5%); and Minas Gerais (6.8%).

In relation to extended retail trade, the highest performance rates in terms of volume of sales were those of Rondônia (42.6%); Acre (30.8%); Alagoas (29.1%); Pará (28.9%); and Mato Grosso do Sul (25.8%). The major contributions to the overall result of the segment came from  São Paulo (18.8%); Rio de Janeiro (11.6%); Paraná (18.8%); Minas Gerais (12.9%); and  Rio Grande do Sul (13.5%).  Still in the analysis by state, the seasonally adjusted results for volume of sales, in the month/previous month comparison, show positive changes in 15 states and negative changes in 12 states. The main increments occurred in Rio Grande do Norte (2.8%); Ceará (2.7%); Amapá (2.0%); and Mato Grosso do Sul (2.0%). The biggest decreases were registered in Roraima (-6.1%); Rondônia (-4.4%); Amazonas (-2.5%); and Tocantins (-1.6%).  

ANALYSIS BY QUARTER/BY SEMESTER

The change of retail trade (10%) in the second quarter of 2007, compared to the same period in 2006, slightly surpassed that of the first quarter of the year (9.8%). The activities which had increase of the rate between the two periods were: Fuels and lubricants (from 4.8% to 6.1%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (from 6.8% to 12.7%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles (from 5.3% to 8.8%); Office, computer and communication material and equipment (from 20.2% to 24.2%); Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (from 5.1% to 7.5%); Other articles of personal and domestic use (from 21.8% to 27.0%). On the other hand, there was acceleration of the activities Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (from 7.2% to 6.9%) and Furniture and household articles (from 20.3% to 13.0%).

In terms of extended retail trade, the change rate in the second quarter, from 15.4%, also surpassed that of the first quarter (11.8%); this performance was affected not only by the activities already mentioned, but also by the evolution of the sales of Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces (from 17.4% to 28.3%), and Construction material (from 6.0% to 13.2%) – Table 4.

The result for the semester (9.9%) was the best one in all the survey series, which started in 2001, surpassing even the figure obtained in the first semester of 2004 (9.4%), a year which was considered a mark  for the recovery of retail trade, due to the inflexion in semester rates (Graph 4).

In the first semester of 2007, in comparison with the second one of 2006, the following activities had positive performances: Fuels and lubricants (from -6.1% to 5.5%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (from 1.1% to 10.1%); Furniture and household appliances (from 11.3% to 16.5%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles (from 3.4% to 7.1%); Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (from 0.0% to 6.1%); and Other articles of personal and domestic use (from 20.7% to 24.5%). On the other hand, Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco and Office, computer and communication material and equipment had slight reduction of their rates (7.5% to 7,0% and   22.8% to 22.3%, respectively).