Retail sales rise in quarter

Press, 15 August 1984, Page 36

Retail sales rise in quarter

Retail sales for the June, 1984, quarter were up 14.9 per cent on the same quarter last year, according to figures released by the Government Statistician. Total sales for the latest quarter were $4679.7 million, compared with last year’s quarterly figure of $4074.1 million.

When adjusted for seasonal fluctuations, sales increased 2.3 per cent between the March and June, 1984, quarters. The movement between the December, 1983, and March, 1984, quarters was an increase of 3.6 per cent. Seasonally adjusted and deflated to remove the effects of price changes, the volume of sales shows no significant change between the March and June, 1984, quarters. This compares with an increase of 2.8 per cent between the December, 1983, and March, 1984, quar-

When the figures are adjusted for population changes as well as for seasonality and prices, sales per head increased 0.5 per cent between the March and June, 1984, quarters. The corresponding movement for the previous quarter was an increase of 2.0 per cent.

Total value of retail sales in June, 1984, was $1560.6 million, a 16.1 per cent increase on the June, 1983, figure. ’ After adjusting for seasonal changes in purchasing patterns and for differing numbers of trading days, sales in June showed an increase of 2.5 per cent over May, 1984. Retail stocks at June 30, 1984, were 7.9 per cent higher in value than a year earlier, and 2.0 per cent higher than at March 31, 1984, the figures show.