The Retail Trade in the country recorded, in November 2009, positive results in the relation month/previous month seasonally adjusted, with change rates of 1.1% for the volume of sales and 1.3% for nominal revenue. With these numbers, retail trade completed seven consecutive months of growth for volume of sales and eight for nominal revenue (graphs 1 and 2). In the other comparisons, obtained from the original series (without adjustment), the increases for volume of sales were of the order of 8.7% over November of the previous year; of 5.5% for the accumulated of the first 11 months of the year; and of 5.3% in the accumulated of the last 12 months. Nominal revenue of sales changed 11.0% over the same month of 2008; 9.8% for the accumulated in the year; and 9.8% for the accumulated in the last 12 months.

Extended Retail Trade, which has been keeping rates closely correlated to those of vehicles – what distinguishes its trajectory from that of Retail Trade – in November presented variations in relation to the previous month (seasonally adjusted) of 0.6% in the volume of sales and of 0.5% for nominal revenue of sales. The sector also presented, in terms of volume of sales, growth rates of 16.4% in relation to November/08; of 6.0% in the accumulated of the year; and 5.6% in the accumulated of 12 months. In these same indicators, nominal revenue of sales grew by, respectively, 15.8%, 6.9%, and 6,8% (Tables 1 and 2).

RESULTS BY SECTOR

In the seasonally adjusted results of the previous month, seven of the 10 activities obtained positive variations in terms of volume of sales, listed below in descending order of rate magnitude: Furniture and household articles (5.9%); Construction material (2.7%); Office, computer and communication material and equipment (1.9%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles (1.2%); Hypermarket, supermarket, food products, beverages and tobacco (1.0%); Fuels and lubricants (0.9%); Vehicles and motorcycles, parts and pieces (0.5%). Negative variations occurred in Other articles of personal and domestic use (-1.9%); Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (-1.1%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (-0.3%) – Table 1.

In the relation November09/November08 (series without adjustment), all surveyed activities had increases in the volume of sales, with those that most decreased with the initial impacts of the world financial crisis standing out with the highest performance rates. In this case are: Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces (37.1% over November/08); Office, computer, and communication material and equipment (19.2%); Furniture and household appliances (13.9%), whose results incorporated part of base effect. The other activities presented the following variations: 12.3% in Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles; 8.8% in Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles; 8.2% in Hypermarket, supermarket, food products, beverages and tobacco; 7.2% in Other articles of personal and domestic use; 4.8% in Textiles, apparel and footwear; 4.7% in Construction material; and 3.0% in Fuels and lubricants.

The segment Hypermarket, supermarket, food products, beverages and tobacco, with a variation of 8.2% in the volume of sales, in November, over the same period of the previous year, was responsible for the main contribution to the overall retail trade rate (46%) and for the second major influence on the extended retail trade rate (16%) – Table 3. In the accumulated in the year and in the last 12 months, the activity recorded rates of 8.2% and 7.7%, respectively. This above-average performance was offered, essentially, by the increased volume of salary (3.0% of variation over November/08, according to the Monthly Survey of Trade (PME) in what refers to the volume of salary of employed persons) and by the stabilization of food prices (variation of 1.1% in 12 months for the group Meals taken in the Household, according to the National Consumer Price Index – IPCA); together with the expansion of the program of income transfer, of which “Bolsa Família” is the main highlight.

The activity Furniture and household appliances, with an increase of 13.9% in the volume of sales in relation to November of last year, accounts for 26% and 9% of the rates of Retail Trade and Extended Retail Trade, respectively. This result, the first in 10 months to surpass the average of retail trade sector, is due to not only economic factors, but the improvement of credit and the price fall of the called “white line”, provided by the reduction of IPI, among others, but also a statistical factor: reduced rhythm of sales in the comparison base month (November/08). In accumulated terms, however, the segment reveals one of the lowest sector performance rates: 0.7% in the accumulated in the year and 1.1% in the last 12 months, a result of five months of negative results recorded in the first semester of the year.

The 12.3% growth in the volume of sales of Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles made the activity responsible for the third and the fourth major impacts in the formation of results of Retail Trade and Extended Retail Trade, respectively. With increases of the order of 12.0% in the accumulated in the year and 12.2% in the accumulated in the last 12 months, the segment arises this year as one of the highest performance rates of the sector. The main contributing factors to this situation were the growth maintenance of the real volume of salary; the increased supply of generic drugs – stimulating the consumption of more cost-effective alternatives; and the essentiality of such products. The increased consumption of generics reached 17.7% in the accumulated of the first nine months of 2009 over the same period of 2008, according to the Brazilian Association of Generic Drugs Industries (Pró-Genéricos).

The activity Other articles of personal and domestic use, which comprises segments such as department stores, opticians, jewelry shops, sports articles and toy stores, had an increase of 7.2% in the volume of sales in relation to November 2008, thus exerting the fourth major impact on the formation of the Retail Trade rate and the fifth major contribution to the Extended Retail Trade rate. With increases of 8.6% in the accumulated in the year and 7.9% in the accumulated in 12 months, the activity so far surpasses the overall performance rate of both aggregates of Retail Trade. This recovery, after a quarter of decreasing growth rhythm may be justified by the positive evolution of salary volume, the gradual recovery of credit, and because it is a segment whose majority of commercialized products has low unitary value.

Textiles, apparel and footwear, with an increase of 4.8% in the volume of sales in November in relation to the same month of 2008, was the activity responsible for the fifth contribution to the overall rate of Retail Trade and the sixth in what refers to Extended Retail Trade. The last two months of growth, after 11 months of fall, hardly increased their accumulated results, which were -4.3% for the first 11 months of the year and -4.6% for the last 12. These decreases were attributed to the effects of the financial crisis, especially those bringing price increases in the segment. The 12-month inflation in the group apparel, which encompasses clothes and footwear, reached 6.4% in November against a rate of 4.2% of the General Index, according to IPCA.

The segment Office, computer, and information material and equipment, responsible for the sixth major contribution in the formation of retail trade overall rate and the seventh of the Extended retail trade, had a 19.2% increase in the volume of sales in the relation November 09/November 08, and accumulated rates of 11.8% in the year and 14.3% in the last 12 months. This performance is explained by the mentioned increased income and the credit recovery, but also by the price decrease of those products, mainly microcomputers (-7.5% in the last 12 months – measured by IPCA) and the sale increase of cell phones, mainly stimulated by technology innovations in the segment. According to the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL), from January to November 2009, there was the second major growth of the decade in number of authorizations for cell phones.

The segment Fuels and lubricants presented, after four months of fall, the second positive variation in the volume of sales, with an increase this month of 3.0% over November 2008, exerting with this result the seventh major contribution to the overall retail trade. In terms of accumulated performance, the change rate for the period January-November was 0.4%, and for the last 12 months, 0.9%. This performance is explained by the decreased revenue due to the change from gasoline consumption to the use of cheaper substitutes (alcohol and compressed natural gas – CNG), which in the period January-September 2009 recorded relatively smaller variations. This situation changed in October, when the price of alcohol increased by 10.6%. Data from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) about commercialization of fuels by distribution companies reveal, in the comparison January-October09/January-October 08, decreasing sales of gasoline (-0.6%) and diesel (-2.9%) and increased sale of hydrated alcohol.

Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles, with an increase of 8.8% in the volume of sales over December/08, was the activity that less contributed to the overall result of Retail Trade. In the accumulated of the first 11 months of the year and in the last 12 months, its rates reached, respectively, 9.6% and 10.1%. These positive results are due to the improvement of the purchasing power by the population, as well as the diversification of the products offered by the main bookstore chains in the country, highlighting the growing participation of computer items.

The segment Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces (that is only considered in the calculation of Extended retail trade), recorded a rise of 37.1% in relation to November 2008, with a participation of 63% in the overall result of the sector. It is worth highlighting that this rate, the highest of the whole series of the activity, was affected by the reduced volume of sales of November 2008 (-20.3% over November/07). In the accumulated of the first 11 months of the year and in the last 12 months, the segment recorded increases above average, with rates of 9.6% and 8.5%, respectively. For the establishment of these results, the policy of IPI reduction was crucial for vehicles up to 2000 cc, implemented at the end of 2008, helped during 2009 by the gradual credit recovery.

Construction material, whose increase of 4.7% in the volume of sales over November 2008 was the first after 12 months of fall, presents negative accumulated results of the order of -7.7% for the first 11 months of the year and -7.4% for the last 12 months. Therefore, the segment has not recovered from the effects of the financial crisis, even with the stimuli of IPI reduction for a group of basic products of the sector, implemented starting from April/09.

RESULTS BY AREA

All 27 Federation Units had positive results in the comparison November09/November08, with the main increases observed in Acre (16.3%), Rondônia (13.7%), Roraima (13.6%), Sergipe (12.9%), and Alagoas (11.6%) – Graph 3. As to participation in the rate composition of Retail Trade, the highlights are, in order, São Paulo (10.4%), Rio de Janeiro (10.2%), Minas Gerais (7.4%), Santa Catarina (10.0%) and Paraná (7.2%).

In relation to extended retail trade, the highest performance rates in the volume of sales occurred in Acre (23.1%), Goiás (22.9%), Mato Grosso do Sul (22.3%), Sergipe (21.8%), Piauí (21.4%), and Santa Catarina (21.2%). In terms of impact on the overall result of the sector, the highlights were the states of São Paulo (17.9%), Minas Gerais (17.7%), Rio de Janeiro (13.3%), Paraná (16.5%), and Santa Catarina (21.2%).

Still by Federation Unit, the seasonally adjusted results for the volume of sales show 17 of the 27 states with positive variation, in the comparison month/previous month, being the highlights Rondônia (5.7%), Acre (5.1%), Mato Grosso do Sul (4.9%), Roraima (3.5%), and Paraná (3.3%).