SINGAPORE’S retail sales grew 1 per cent year on year in July, reversing the 0.6 per cent fall posted in the month before, driven by strong motor vehicle sales.
The result was below estimates by private-sector economists polled by Bloomberg, who had expected July’s retail sales to grow 1.3 per cent year on year.
On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, retail sales gained 3.1 per cent, reversing from June’s 3.7 per cent decline, Department of Statistics (SingStat) data released on Thursday (Sep 5) showed.
July’s total retail sales stood at S$4 billion. Online sales accounted for 11.9 per cent, compared with June’s 12.1 per cent.
Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales fell 2.3 per cent from the year-ago period but posted a sequential gain – up 0.5 per cent on a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis.
Five of the 14 retail sales categories recorded year-on-year growth in July, with motor vehicles (27.2 per cent), petrol service stations (4.7 per cent) and food and alcohol (4.7 per cent) recording the biggest increases. Department stores posted the largest decline of 11.2 per cent.
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On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, sales grew for eight of the categories. Motor vehicles recorded the largest increase of 21.7 per cent; cosmetics, toiletries and medical goods posted the largest sequential fall of 4 per cent.
Sales of food and beverage (F&B) services rose 0.2 per cent year on year, less than the revised 1.9 per cent growth posted in June.
Sequentially, F&B sales increased 0.6 per cent on a monthly, seasonally adjusted basis, reversing from the previous month’s 3.2 per cent decline.
On the year, only the F&B categories of food caterers (18.8 per cent) as well as cafes, food courts and other eating places (2.5 per cent) recorded growth. Meanwhile, restaurants (-3.7 per cent) and fast food outlets (-6.6 per cent) posted declines.
On a month-on-month, seasonally adjusted basis, all F&B categories posted increases except restaurants, which recorded a 0.8 per cent decline.
F&B services receipts amounted to S$989 million, with online sales accounting for an estimated 23.8 per cent of this sum.
