Taiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed.
Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. Despite the decline, the figure was still the second-highest annual sales total on record.
Ministry statistics department deputy head Chen Yu-fang (陳玉芳) said sales of cars, motorcycles and related products, which accounted for 17.4 percent of total retail rales last year, fell NT$68.1 billion, or 7.5 percent, from a year earlier.
Photo: CNA
Many consumers, concerned how their incomes might be affected by US tariff policies that have yet to be finalized, maintained a wait-and-see attitude on large purchases such as automobiles, causing the final tally to slump, Chen said.
Retail fuel sales also dropped NT$14.3 billion, or 5.4 percent, last year due to falling international crude oil prices, the ministry said.
Excluding sales in the auto and motorcycle sector, overall retail sales rose 1.5 percent year-on-year, Chen said.
Sales at department stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets and convenience stores bucked the broader downturn, rising a combined NT$46.4 billion, or 3.0 percent, which helped cushion the overall decline, she said.
A bright spot emerged toward the end of the year, as sales of cars, motorcycles and related products last month rose about 10 percent from a year earlier to NT$83.5 billion, reversing a nine-month downturn and signaling a possible recovery in buying, Chen said.
Last year, revenue in the food and beverage industry rose 2.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.07 trillion, although last month’s revenue fell 1.1 percent to NT$95.0 billion.
That decline showed that consumers had not begun spending for the Lunar New Year holiday yet, which falls on a February this year compared with January last year, the ministry said.
Revenue in the wholesale sector last year rose 8.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$14.07 trillion, supported by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers and related devices, it said.
The ministry forecast retail sales this month would range between NT$424.6 billion and NT$438.0 billion, down 1.8 percent to 4.8 percent from a year earlier, and revenue in the food and beverage industry between NT$96.0 billion to NT$99.2 billion, down 6.1 percent to 9.1 percent.
Revenue for the wholesale sector this month is expected to rise 11 percent to 14 percent year-on-year to between NT$1.21 trillion and NT$1.25 trillion, driven by robust AI-related demand, Chen added.
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