Motor Trades Rose Retail Sales in Ireland

In July Retail sales volumes rose by 2.3% month-on-month (m/m) in July, according to seasonally adjusted data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

 This marked the first increase in
retail sales volumes since December 2007. Consequently, the
year-on-year (y/y) decline in retail sales volumes narrowed to 3.5%
in July from 4.9% in June, which had been the largest drop since
January 1987. When measured in value terms, retail sales rose by 1.8%
m/m in July. This was the first rise since a tiny increase in
January. Retail sales were down 0.5% y/y in value terms in July,
compared with a drop of 1.6% y/y in June.
Critically though, the
jump in retail sales in July was due to sharp increases of 13.3% m/m
in volume terms and 12.7% m/m in value terms in motor trades sales.
This was influenced heavily by the introduction of vehicle
registration tax changes in July. Excluding motor trades sales,
retail sales volumes contracted by 1.7% m/m in July, while sales
values were down by 1.9% m/m.