KEY POINTS:
Rising spending at supermarkets and grocery stores led seasonally adjusted retail sales up 0.4 per cent in August, even as the amount spent on vehicle fuel dropped 3.3 per cent.
Figures out today from Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) show total retail sales up $20 million last month, with supermarket and grocery sales up 1.2 per cent or $14m. The amount spent on fuel was down $21m.
The overall rise was close to expectations, with the median in a Reuters poll of economists having been for a rise of 0.3 per cent.
But the 0.8 per cent rise in core retail sales, which excludes fuel and other vehicle-related industries, was down on an expected rise of 1.2 per cent.
SNZ said seasonally adjusted sales in August compared to July were higher in 15 of the 24 industries in its survey.
After supermarket and grocery sales, the largest rise was in department stores, where spending was up 2.5 per cent or $8m.
Of the nine industries that recorded lower sales, automotive fuel retailing was the only industry with a fall of more than $3m.
The total retail sales trend had been flat since last December, but before the flat period had been positive since May 1998, SNZ said.
The trend in supermarket and grocery store sales had been declining since March, the longest negative trend since the series started in 1995.
For automotive fuel, the trend had risen 33.7 per cent since December 2006, with the rate of increase having been strong between August and December 2007, but having eased since.
Actual total sales were down 0.9 per cent in August from a year earlier.
ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said a degree of pick-up had been expected, and the result should not be taken as an indication retail sales had "suddenly come back to life".
TD Securities senior strategist Josh Williamson said the result was weak and suggested real retail sales were going to remain negative in the third quarter.
"This is going to be a long drawn out recession for New Zealand."
- NZPA
