23/4/2011 00:00:00
In February, retail sales reported a null change (raw data) compared with the same month last year and an increase by 0.1% (seasonally adjusted data) compared with January. This was communicated by Istat, noting that sales of food increased by 0.3% in trend terms and 0.2% in economic terms, while those of non-food items fell by 0.1% year on year remaining unchanged on a monthly basis. In comparison with February 2010, there was a decrease of 0.3% for large distribution sales and an increase of 0.1% for firms operating in small surfaces. Sales of non-food product groups showed rather heterogeneous results in terms of trend. In particular, the Pharmaceuticals group recorded the largest increase (+1.4%), while the group Magnetic supports, musical instruments undergoes the most marked decrease (-7%). In large distribution, sales showed a positive change for food (+0.3%) and a decrease for non-food (-0.7%). For businesses operating in small surfaces there are increases in both sales of food (+0.4%) and non-food (+0.1%). Within the former, there was a decrease of 0.8% for the outlets selling mainly food and a null change for those predominantly non-food. Among the exercises selling mainly food more marked downward trend (-2.2%) relates to the hypermarkets, while the discount grocery mark an increase of 1.5%. With reference to the size of firms, in the month of February the value of sales increases, in terms of trend, by 0.1% in companies with up to five employees, it remains unchanged for those with 6 to 49 employees and decreased by 0.2% in firms with at least 50 employees. Regarding the value of sales of non-food products in February the largest negative variations concern Magnetic, musical instruments (7%), Household appliances, radio, TV and recording devices (-1.9%) and games, toys, sports and camping (-1.5%). The groups that recorded the highest rises are Pharmaceuticals (+1.4%) and photo-optics and film (+1%).
