Sales in the retail, and the food and beverage sectors this month are expected to retain their growth momentum, after sales last month hit the highest for the period on record, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said last week.
The ministry forecast that retail sales this month would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day and Mother’s Day promotions, as well as the opening of new shopping malls, while food and beverage sales would be supported by the launch of new stores, products and items that help keep people cool in hot weather, the ministry said in a report on Wednesday.
Retail sales are predicted to increase 0.4 percent to 3.4 percent from April last year to between NT$388.8 billion and NT$400.4 billion (US$11.95 billion to US$12.31 billion) this month, while food and beverage sales are forecast to grow 2.2 to 5.2 percent to between NT$81.7 billion and NT$84.1 billion, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Last month, the retail sector’s sales were NT$393 billion, up 0.4 percent from a year earlier, driven mainly by stronger sales at e-commerce sites, supermarkets, convenience stores and hypermarkets, offsetting slowing consumption of vehicles, auto components and apparels, the report said.
While last month’s increase was slightly lower than the median of the ministry’s estimate from a 0.6 percent drop to a 2.4 percent gain, it was better than the annual decrease of 3.8 percent in February.
In the first three months of this year, retail sales rose 0.9 percent from a year earlier to a record NT$1.19 trillion, ministry data showed.
Sales in the food and beverage sector last month reached NT$85.5 billion, up 2.8 percent from a year earlier, which was also a significant improvement from the previous month’s 9.2 percent annual decline, and falls within the ministry’s estimate of 1.3 to 4.3 percent annual increase.
The ministry attributed the growth to new product launches, store expansions and joint promotions that benefited restaurants and beverage stores, while robust demand for in-flight meals also boosted sales of catering service providers, the report said.
In the first three months, food and beverage sales rose 3.7 percent year-on-year to NT$274 billion, also a record high for the same period, it said.
Meanwhile, sales generated by the wholesale sector last month increased 9.9 percent year-on-year to NT$1.18 trillion, also meeting the ministry’s forecast of an annual increase of 8 to 11 percent.
That was attributable to increases in demand for machinery equipment, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics and clothes, despite lackluster demand for cars and motorcycles, the report said.
In the first three months, the sector’s sales rose 9.2 percent year-on-year to NT$3.32 trillion, hitting the highest first-quarter sales ever, it said.
For this month, sales for the wholesale sector are projected to increase 4.3 to 7.3 percent year-on-year to between NT$1.1 trillion and NT$1.14 trillion, the ministry said.
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