In August, the retail trade of the country changed -0.4% for the volume of sales and 0.3% for the nominal revenue on a seasonally adjusted month-to-month basis. That indicates a deceleration in the sector, with the second negative result in the year (the first one was in April) leading to the interruption of a quarter of growth in volume of sales and to the lowest positive rate of nominal revenue registered in 2011.

In the other comparisons, obtained from the unadjusted original series, the national retail trade recorded, as to the volume of sales, increases of 6.2% against August of the previous year and of 7.2% and 8.2% in the accumulated indicators of the first eight months of the year and of the last 12 months, respectively.

For the same indicators, the nominal revenue of sales recorded change rates of 12.3%, 12.3% and 13.1%, respectively. The complete publication of the survey can be accessed at www.ibge.gov.br/english/estatistica/indicadores/comercio/pmc/

Among the ten activities, eight register negative rates

 In the seasonally adjusted series, only two of the ten activities that make up the retail trade changed positively:

Office, computer and communication equipment and material (7.3%) and books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (1.6%). The other activities recorded negative changes, as follows in decreasing order: Hiper-, super-markets, food, beverages and tobacco (-0.1%); fuels and lubricants (-0.1%); other articles of personal and domestic use (-0.1%); pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles(-0.3%); furniture and domestic appliances (-0.4%); construction material (-2.0%); fabric, apparel and footwear (-2.8%); and vehicles and motorcycles, parts and accessories (-4.6%).

In the August11/August10 comparison (unadjusted series), all the activities of the retail trade recorded increases in the volume of sales. The rates, by order of contribution to the overall result, were:

16.9% for furniture and domestic appliances; 3.7% for hiper-, super-markets, food, beverages and tobacco; 9.3% for pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles; 25.3% for office, computer and communication equipment and material; 1.7% for other articles of personal and household use; 1.6% for fuels and lubricants; 0.9% for fabric, apparel and footwear and 5.2% for books, newspapers, magazines and stationery.

The activity of furniture and domestic appliances, with an increase of 16.9% in the volume of sales in relation to August of last year, was responsible for the highest contribution of the Retail overall rate (46.2%) in the formation of the performance rate of the Retail Trade .

In accumulated terms, the changes reached 18.1% in the year and 17.8% in 12 months. Such a performance is due to the growth of employment and income, the continuation of credit, as well as the drop in the prices of electric-electronic products (-4.7% in the last 12 months until August, according to the IPCA of IBGE).

The sector of hyper, supermarkets, food, beverages and tobacco, with a change of 3.7% in the volume of sales in August, against the same month a year ago, was the second main contributor (28.8%) to the overall retail rate.

This activity, which has always been the major contributor to the overall retail rate, has recorded, in the last months, a performance below the average due to the behavior of food products, which have risen above the average in the period of 12 months: 9.8% for Meals in the House, against 7.2% of the overall inflation, according to IPCA. In terms of accumulated results, the change rates reached 4.0% in the accumulated indicator of the first eight months of the year, and 5.0% in the last 12 months.

The activity of pharmaceutical and medical goods, cosmetic and toilet articles, with the third highest contribution to the overall retail rate (9.4%), recorded a growth of 9.3% compared with August of last year, and accumulated rates of 10.4% in the year and of 11.0% in the last 12 months.

The sector keeps, in all comparisons, results above the overall Retail rate. The main factors that contributed to this result were: the continuous growth of the real volume of salaries; the higher supply of generic medicines – stimulating the consumption for alternatives with more interesting prices – and the fact that these products are essential. 

Extended retail changes –2.3% in the volume of sales

For the Extended Retail Trade, comprising the retail trade plus the activities of vehicles and motorcycles, parts and accessories and construction material, the seasonally adjusted changes in relation to the previous month were -2.3% for the volume of sales and –1.3% for the nominal revenue.

Compared with the same month of a year ago (seasonally unadjusted), changes were of 5.3% for the volume of sales and of 8.8% for the nominal revenue. In the accumulated indicators of the year and of the last 12 months, the sector presented changes of 8.4% and 9.7%, respectively, for the volume of sales and 11.3% and 12.7%, respectively, for the nominal revenue.

The activity of vehicles and motorcycles, parts and accessories recorded a high of 3.7% in the volume of sales in relation to August of 2010, accumulating 10.2% in the year and 12.2% in the last twelve months.

The increase in the IPI (Industrialized Products Tax) for imported cars might be influencing that result, as a rise of 9.6% can be observed for New Motor Vehicles in the IPCA, against an average inflation of 7.2% in the last 12 months.

As for Construction Material, changes were of 6.6% in relation to August of 2010, of 10.8% in the accumulated indicator of the year and of 12.0% in the last 12 months.

The more moderate growth can be attributable to the negative expectations about the crisis in the Euro zone and in the United states, which make consumers less trustful about long term expenses such as estate construction, purchase and repairs.

All the Federation Units had positive results compared with August of 2010

All the twenty-seven Federation Units had positive results compared with August of 2010. The most relevant rates were:

Tocantins (22.5%); Rondônia (13.7%); Espírito Santo (11.3%); Acre (11.1%); Roraima (10.6%); Rio Grande do Norte (10.2%) – Graph 4. As for the contribution to the Retail Trade rate, the highlights were São Paulo (4.5%); Minas Gerais (9.0%); Rio de Janeiro (6.8%); Bahia (10.0%) and Paraná (6.9%).

Concerning the extended retail trade, the highest rates of performance in the volume of sales occurred in Tocantins (19.6%); Rondônia (13.3%); Roraima (12.8%); Rio Grande do Norte (9.6%); Goiás (9.6%) and Maranhão (8.8%).

The two negative results were Amapá (-7.6%) and Federal District (-0.9). In terms of impact on the overall result of the sector, the highlights were São Paulo (3.6%); Rio de Janeiro (6.9%); Minas Gerais (7.5%); Paraná (8.7%) and Rio Grande do Sul (6.0%).

Concerning the Federation Units, the seasonally adjusted results for the volume of sales point to only 13 of the 27 states with positive results on a month over month basis. The highlights were:

Roraima (4.6%); Amapá (3.6%) and Amazonas (1.7%).