THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1985
RETAIL SALES OF CLOTHING, FOOTWEAR AND ALLIED PRODUCTS FOR THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD MAY-JULY 1985. WHEN COMPARED WITH THE SAME PERIOD OF 1984, SHOWED AN INCREASE OF 6 PER CENT IN VALUE BUT A DECREASE OF 2 PER CENT IN VOLUME. FUELS RECORDED AN INCREASE OF 1 PER CENT IN VALUE AND 2 PER CENT IN VOLUME.
FOODSTUFFS, ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND TOBACCO SHOWED NO CHANGE IN SALES VALUE, AND RECORDED A SLIGHT INCREASE OF 2 PER CENT IN SALES VOLUME. RETAIL SALES OF CONSUMER DURABLES DECREASED BY 3 PER CENT IN VALUE AND 4 PER CENT IN VOLUME, AND OF +OTHER CONSUMER GOODS+ BY 6 PER CENT IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS.
WHEN COMPARED WITH JUNE 1985, RETAIL SALES OF +OTHER CONSUMER GOODS+ RECORDED AN INCREASE OF 7 PER CENT IN VALUE AND 8 PER CENT IN VOLUME, CLOTHING. FOOTWEAR AND ALLIED PRODUCTS INCREASED BY 6 PER CENT IN SALES VALUE AND 8 PER CENT IN SALES VOLUME. RETAIL SALES OF CONSUMER DURABLES ROSE BY 5 PER CENT, OF FOODSTUFFS ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND TOBACCO BY 4 PER CENT, AND OF FUELS BY 1 PER CENT IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS.
ANALYSED BY SELECTED TRADES, RETAIL SALES OF MOTOR VEHICLES ROSE SUBSTANTIALLY IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS WHEN COMPARED WITH JULY 1984. MODERATE INCREASES IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS WERE RECORDED FOR RETAIL SALES OF DEPARTMENT STORES AND OF SUPERMARKETS. HOWEVER, RETAIL SALES OF CONSUMER DURABLES OTHER THAN MOTOR VEHICLES DECREASED IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS.
COMPARING THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD MAY-JULY 1985 WITH THE SAME PERIOD IN 1984, RETAIL SALES OF MOTOR VEHICLES INCREASED CONSIDERABLY IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS. SUPERMARKETS AND DEPARTMENT STORES RECORDED MODERATE INCREASES IN BOTH SALES VALUE AND VOLUME. ON THE OTHER HAND, CONSUMER DURABLES OTHER THAN MOTOR VEHICLES DECREASED MODERATELY IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS.
WHEN COMPARED WITH JUNE 1985, RETAIL SALES OF SUPERMARKETS SHOWED NO CHANGE IN BOTH VALUE AND VOLUME TERMS, WHILE THOSE OF ALL OTHER SELECTED TRADES RECORDED MODERATE INCREASES.
TABLE 1 PRESENTS THE REVISED TOTAL SALES FIGURE FOR JUNE 1985 AND THE PROVISIONAL FIGURE FOR JULY 1985.
TABLE 2 SHOWS THE VALUE AND VOLUME INDEXES OF RETAIL SALES BY MAJOR TRADE GROUPS AND SELECTED TRADES (WHICH FORM PART OF THE RELEVANT MAJOR TRADE GROUPS), WITH AVERAGE MONTHLY RETAIL SALES IN 1980 TAKEN AS 100. COMPARISONS OF JULY 1985 RESULTS WITH THOSE OF JUNE 1985 AND JULY 1984 AND COMPARISONS OF RETAIL SALES IN THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD MAY-JULY 1985 WITH THOSE IN THE SAME PERIOD OF 1984 ARE ALSO GIVEN. GRAPHS 1 AND 2 DEPICT THE INDEX MOVEMENTS OF TOTAL RETAIL SALES FROM JANUARY 1983 TO JUNE 1985.
THE REPORT CONTAINING THE ANALYSIS OF THE JULY 1985 SURVEY RESULTS IS NOW ON SALE AT THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE, GENERAL POST OFFICE, CONNAUGHT PLACE, AT $1 PER COPY.
ENQUIRIES ABOUT THE SURVEY RESULTS MAY BE DIRECTED TO THE WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE STATISTICS SECTION OF THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT (TEL. NO.: 3-7216024).
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