Retail trade recorded hikes of 1.6% in volume of sales and of 0.9% in nominal revenue, in March, versus the previous month...

Retail trade recorded hikes of 1.6% in volume of sales and of 0.9% in nominal revenue, in March, versus the previous month. These seasonally adjusted result show acceleration of sales increase. Compared to march 2009, the volume of sales increased 15.7%, and nominal revenue of sales, 19.1%. In terms of indexes accumulated in the 1^st quarter and in the last 12 months, there was also increase of volume of sales (12.8% and 8.0%, respectively). Nominal revenue also changed positively, by 15.6% and 11.5%, respectively.

Extended retail trade, which includes the subsectors of Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces and Construction material, recorded increase of 5.0% for volume of sales and 3.9% for nominal revenue of sales (both seasonally adjusted), in relation to the previous month. Compared to figures in March 2009, changes were 22.0% for volume of sales and 23.8% for nominal revenue. For the indexes accumulated in the year and in the last 12 months, this subsector had change rates of 15.5% e 9.6% in terms of volume of sales and of 17.2% and 10.3%, respectively, for nominal revenue of sales.

Volume of sales increases in seven of the 10 activities surveyed

In March, seven of the 10 activities surveyed recorded increase in the seasonally adjusted volume of sales, with the following results: Vehicles and motorcycles, parts and pieces (10.3%); Office, computer and communication material and equipment (8.6%); Construction material (3.0%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (1.5%); Fuels and lubricants (1.5%); Other articles of personal and domestic use (0.6%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic, perfumery articles and cosmetics (0.4%); Furniture and household appliances (-0.1%); Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (-0.2%) and Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco  (-0.8%).

In relation to the result in March 2009, there was increase of the volume of Sales in all the eight activities, with the following rates: Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (15.3%); Furniture and household appliances (25.7%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (15.7%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles and cosmetics (15.2%); Other articles of personal and domestic use (8.4%); Office, computer and communication material and equipment (35.4%); Fuels and lubricants (6.4%) and Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (7.9%).

The subsectors of Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco, with change of 15.3%, accounted for the main contribution (48.4%) to the overall retail trade rate. In terms of accumulated indexes, in the 1^st quarter of 2010, this activity increased by 12.4%. With reference to the last 12 months, there was change of 10.4%. Such performance is a result of the higher purchasing power of the population, as a result of the increase of salary volume (7.1% over March 2009, according to PME). An important contribution was related to the fact that the price change was below the average inflation rate (4.7% in the group Meals taken in the household, in the last 12 months, versus 5.2% of the overall index, according to IPCA).

Furniture and household appliances, with increase of 25.7% in volume of sales compared to the figure in march 2009, accounted for the second main impact on the formation of the overall retail trade rate (25.0%). This result can be seen as a consequence of the amount of “white type” products with reduced taxes in stock, and also to the fact that credit offers got closer to levels as in the pre-crisis period. In terms of indexes accumulated in the quarter and in the last 12 months, changes were between 21.7% and 6.7%, respectively.

Textiles, apparel and footwear was the activity which accounted for the third most significant contribution to the formation of the overall rate (6.3%), and its volume of sales increased 15.7% in March (over the same month in the previous year). In the 1^st quarter, there was change of 9.5%. The rate accumulated in the last 12 months increased 0.4%. Figures reflect the recovery of the sector, once since October 2009 it has presented positive rates, in spite of the behavior of prices in the last 12 months (6.0% in Apparel, above the overall index of 5.1%, according to IPCA).

The activity Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic, perfumery articles, which accounted for the fourth main contribution to the overall rate (6.1%),  increased 15.2% compared to the figure in March 2009; changed by 13.4% in the first three months of 2010 and increased by 12.1% in terms of the index accumulated in the last 12 months. The increase of salary volume and the diversity of products offered are the main factors accounting for this performance.

Other articles of personal and domestic use, accounted for the fifth biggest contribution to the overall rate, after increasing 8.4% in terms of volume of sales in relation to March 2009; this activity was responsible for 4.8% of the overall rate. The performance of this activity was affected by the increase of salary volume. The index accumulated in the quarter was 6.4% and in the last 12 months, 8.4%.

The subsector Office, computer and communication material and equipment, which accounted for the sixth biggest impact  on the formation of the overall rate, increased by 35.4% in terms of volume of sales in March (versus the same month in 2009) and had a arte of 29.9% accumulated in the first quarter of the year. In the last 12 months, the increase was 14.0%. It is the activity with the highest level of increase in the month, a fact which may have resulted from the fall of prices in this subsector and from the growing importance of these consumption habits of families.

Fuels and lubricants, with increase of 6.4% in volume of Sales in relation to March 2009, accounted for the seventh biggest contribution to the overall rate. In the quarter, the accumulated performance was 5.4%, and in the last 12 months, 1.4%. This behavior resulted from the rise of prices of fuel alcohol (with change of 19.3% in the last 12 months – sub-heading Alcohol under the heading Fuels of IPCA).

The activity Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles, with increase of 7.9%, accounted for the eight most significant contribution to the overall result. The volume of sales changed by 8.3% in the quarter and by 8.4% in the last twelve months. Results were affected, mainly, by the increase of salary volume and by the diversity of products offered.

Vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces recorded increase of 32.4% in relation to March 2009, with hikes of 20.7% and 14.6% in the quarter and in the last 12 months, respectively. In March, the end of a period with lower IPI (tax on manufactured products) led to early purchases, which, together with beneficial credit offers, contributed to the dynamics of this subsector.

As for Construction material, changes were between 19.5% in relation to March 2009, 14.7% accumulated in the year and -1.5% in the last 12 months. The fifth consecutive rate of this activity points to recovery of this sector which had faced decrease sector which faced in relation to March 2009, 14.7% accumulated in the year and –1.5% in the last 12 months. The population’s growing confidence in economic agents and government incentive (reduction of IPI) may explain this behavior.

All the Federation Units present positive results

All the 27 Federation Units presented positive results in comparison with those in March 2009, especially Tocantins (48.9%); Rondônia (31.7%); Acre (31.5%); Mato Grosso (23.5%); Maranhão (21.9%) and Piauí (20.7%). In the formation of the overall retail trade rate, the highlights were São Paulo (16.2%); Rio de Janeiro (12,3%); Minas Gerais (14,0%); Paraná (16,7%); Rio Grande do Sul (13,3%) and Bahia (19.0%). With reference to extended retail trade, the biggest increases in volume of sales were those of Tocantins (43.6%); Espírito Santo (38.6%); Rondônia (38.1%); Ceará (33.1%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (29.7%). In this subsector, the main highlights were São Paulo (22.1%); Minas Gerais (21.9%); Rio de Janeiro (17.1%); Paraná (21.5%); Bahia (24.7%) and Santa Catarina (17.6%).

In the quarter, there was increase of 12.8%

In the 1st quarter of 2010, the increase of 12.8% in comparison with the figure in the same period of 2009 was above the change recorded in the last quarter of the previous year (8.9%) as well as of all the quarters which started in January 2004 (a year considered extremely relevant for economic recovery after the “dot com crisis”).

In the comparison of results for the last two quarters, it is possible to notice decrease of rate of Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery articles (from 10.3% to 8.3%) and Other articles of personal and domestic use (from 7.7% to 6.4%). Subsectors presenting improvements in performance were Office, computer and communication material and equipment (from 7.6% to 29.9%); Furniture and household appliances (from 10.4% to 21.7%); Textiles, apparel and footwear (from 5.1% to 9.5%); Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverage sand tobacco (from 10.0% to 12.4%); Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles (from 11.4% to 13.4%) and Fuels and lubricants (from 3.2% to 5.4%).

In terms of extended retail trade, the 15.5% of change in the first quarter of 2010 surpassed the 13.9% relative to the fourth quarter of year 2009. It is formed, besides the activities described above by, Vehicles and motorcycles, parts and pieces (with decrease from 27.9% to 20.7%) and Construction material (with increase from 4.7% to 14.7%).