A 3.4% year-on-year decrease in the volume of retail sales in the first four months of 2009

In April, retail sales continued to decrease at an increasing rate, showing a decrease in volume of 4.1% compared with last April. Compared to the previous month, the volume of retail sales decreased by 0.3%.

In the first four months of 2009, domestic retail turnover (including retail sale via mail orderhouses) was HUF 2125 billion, out of this a turnover of HUF 607 billion was generated in April. The turnover of non-specialized and specialized food, beverages and tobacco stores – atconstant prices – decreased by 2.7% in the first four months of 2009 and by 3.2% in April compared to the same period of the previous year. (In April 2009, retail sales in food, beverages and tobacco stores, according to unadjusted data, increased by 1.3% compared to April 2008. The reason for the difference between unadjusted and adjusted data is that Easter shopping was in April this year while it was in March last year.) Sales volumes for non-specialized stores (hyper-, supermarkets, groceries) – having a major, 91% market share – declined by 3.4% while for specialized food, beverages and tobacco stores remained unchanged. In April, sales volumes for non-specialized and specialized food, beverages and tobacco stores decreased by 0.2% compared to March 2009.
The turnover of non-food retail trade – at constant prices – was down by 6.3% in the first fourmonths of 2009 and by 4.2% in April compared to the same period of the previous year. In April, at
constant prices, sales in furniture and household goods shops; non-specialized stores; pharmacies aswell as books, newspapers and other specialized shops were lower than last April. At the same timethere was an increase in the sales volumes of textile-, clothing, footwear stores and cosmetics articles shops compared to the same period of the previous year. According to seasonally and calendar adjusted data, sales volumes for non-food retailing rose by 1.0% compared to March 2009.
At constant prices, retail sales of automotive fuel increased by 0.8% in the first four months of2009 and by 0.3% in April 2009 compared to the same period of the previous year. In April, according to seasonally and calendar adjusted data, sales volumes for automotive fuel decreased by 0.3% compared to March 2009.