Sales in the retail, and the food and beverage sectors in the first two months of this year reached the highest levels for the period on record, as extended holidays boosted consumer traffic at physical stores and businesses promoted sales during the Lunar New Year holiday, data released yesterday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed.
The ministry said in a report that retail sales climbed 1.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$813.7 billion (US$25.41 billion) in the first two months, meeting its forecast of a 0.6 to 1.9 percent increase.
Department stores, big-box stores and convenience stores, as well as e-commerce and mail-order operators, drink and tobacco retailers, and fabric and clothing stores were the main drivers in sales during the period, rising from 5.3 to 8.1 percent.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
However, sales of cars, motorcycles and auto parts fell 15 percent as many consumers still maintained a wait-and-see attitude on large purchases, while retail fuel sales also dropped 8.4 percent due to falling crude oil prices, the report said.
Food and beverage sales grew 4.6 percent in the period to NT$197 billion on across-the-board growth at restaurants, beverage outlets and catering service providers, exceeding the ministry’s prediction of a 2.1 to 3.4 percent growth, it said.
Meanwhile, sales in the wholesale sector in the first two months increased 20.1 percent from a year earlier to NT$2.57 trillion, also the highest for the period, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing devices boosted shipments of servers, memory chips and related electronic components, the ministry said.
However, aside from industries benefiting from the AI boom, many wholesale businesses are still facing challenges, with wholesale revenue of the automotive industry down 10.9 percent due to conservative market sentiment and that of building materials declining 9.5 percent amid weak steel demand, it said.
The ministry released the data for the first two months to factor out the effects of the week-long Lunar New Year holiday — which was in February this year, but fell mostly in January last year — when many businesses were closed.
For this month, the ministry forecast retail sales would show between a 0.9 percent drop to a 2.1 percent gain from March last year to range between NT$389.4 billion and NT$401.2 billion, while food and beverage sales are predicted to increase 2.2 to 5.2 percent to between NT$87.6 billion and NT$90.1 billion.
Sales in the wholesale sector this month are projected to rise 16.1 to 19.1 percent year-on-year to between NT$1.38 trillion and NT$1.41 trillion, driven by robust AI and cloud services-related demand, the ministry said.
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