Australia’s seasonally-adjusted Retail Sales for the month of September, missing the expected 0.3% reading and declining from the previous month’s printing of the same figure. Despite the flubbed Retail Sales numbers, Australia’s q/q Producer Price Index for 2018’s third quarter clocked in at 0.8%, beating the forecast 0.2% and clearing the previous quarter’s 0.3%.
Key highlights (via ABS)
Australian retail turnover rose 0.2 per cent in September 2018, seasonally adjusted, according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Retail Trade figures. This follows a 0.3 per cent rise in August 2018.
“Food retailing (0.4 per cent) led the rises,” said Ben James, Director of Quarterly Economy Wide Surveys. “There was also a rise in cafés, restaurants and takeaways, which rose 0.5 per cent.”
The rises were offset by a fall in clothing, footwear and personal accessories (-1.2 per cent), while three industries were relatively unchanged: Other retailing (0.0 per cent), household goods (0.0 per cent), and department stores (0.0 per cent).
In seasonally adjusted terms, there were rises in Victoria (0.7 per cent), Queensland (0.4 per cent), South Australia (0.4 per cent), and Tasmania (0.7 per cent). There were falls in New South Wales (-0.4 per cent) and the Northern Territory (-1.0 per cent), while Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory were relatively unchanged (0.0 per cent) in September 2018.
The trend estimate for Australian retail turnover rose 0.2 per cent in September 2018, following a rise of 0.2 per cent in August 2018. Compared to September 2017, the trend estimate rose 3.5 per cent.
For the September quarter 2018, there was a 0.2 per cent rise in seasonally adjusted volume terms. This follows a rise of 1.0 per cent in the June quarter 2018. The quarterly rise in volumes was led by other retailing (2.2 per cent), and cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.2 per cent). Household goods (-0.7 per cent), clothing, footwear and personal accessories (-0.6 per cent) and department stores (-0.8 per cent) fell in seasonally adjusted volume terms.
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