We buy less and less food

By: Trademagazin Date: 2022. 09. 05. 14:09

In July, the volume of retail trade was 4.3% higher than a year earlier. However, the details behind the apparently strong data strongly shade the picture: with the exception of fuel purchases, traffic is already lower than a year ago, and in this segment we have seen a continuous decline in the last 3-4 months.

One of the important reasons for the decline is that inflation eats away at purchasing power

Looking at the trend of total traffic, no huge changes are visible yet. In the figure below, it is clear that the transfers scattered around the elections caused a huge jump in purchases, the subsequent drop can be attributed to the depletion of one-time funds.

However, if we take a closer look at the structure of growth, we can see that in July fuel purchases kept the momentum in the retail trade, while in other areas the income-sapping effect of strong inflation is already taking effect. Calculated on an annual basis, food retail trade already made a negative contribution to growth, in July the decrease was almost 2% compared to the previous month.

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