Sales in the retail sector last month fell 3.6 percent year-on-year to NT$388.4 billion (US$12.71 billion), government data showed yesterday, as economic uncertainty and a boom in overseas travel battered domestic consumption.
Last month’s decrease was the fourth consecutive month of annual decline, data released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed.
Retail sales were lower than the ministry’s forecast, which projected them to be between NT$394.9 billion and NT$406.9 billion, or an annual decline of 1 percent to an increase of 2 percent.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA
Sales gains in e-commerce sites, supermarkets and convenience stores were offset by declines in motor vehicles and parts vendors, fabric and clothing stores, fuel product outlets and hypermarkets, the ministry said in a report.
Excluding sales of motor vehicles and parts, which fell 19.3 percent last month due to weakening market sentiment and delayed delivery of some imported vehicles amid tariff-related worries, retail sales last month would be 0.8 percent higher than a year earlier, it said.
In the first seven months of this year, cumulative retail sales totaled NT$2.75 trillion, down 0.8 percent compared with the same period last year, it said.
The report also revealed that sales in the food and beverage sector last month increased 2.8 percent annually to NT$87.1 billion, meeting the ministry’s forecast of an annual increase of 1.3 to 4.3 percent.
Restaurant sales rose 1.4 percent and sales at beverage stores increased 7.3 percent, while catering service sales jumped 12.2 percent, all suggesting people did not pull back on food and beverage spending despite the recent tariff shock.
Food and beverage sales in the first seven months rose 3 percent year-on-year to NT$618.5 billion, a record for the same period, the ministry said.
For this month, the ministry projected that retail sales would range from an annual decline of 2.4 percent to an annual increase of 0.6 percent, reaching NT$380.7 billion to NT$392.4 billion, while food and beverage sales would show an annual decrease of 1 percent to an annual increase of 2 percent to a range between NT$88.1 billion and NT$90.8 billion.
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