— Japan Mar Retail Sales +10.3% Y/Y; MNI Median Fcast +9.8%
— Japan Mar Retail Sales Post 4th Y/Y Rise In Row; Feb +3.4%
— Japan Mar Retail Car Sales +50.4% Y/Y; Feb +21.3%
— Japan Mar Retail Fuel Sales +6.2% Y/Y; Feb +5.0%
— Japan Mar Retail Machinery Sales -12.0% Y/Y; Feb -16.1%
TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s retail sales posted a fourth straight month
of annual increase on solid demand for automobiles backed by revived
government subsidies for buying low-emission vehicles, data from the
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released Friday showed.
Retail sales last month rose 10.3%, the best reading since March
1997, when they rose 12.4%, beating the consensus forecast for a 9.8%
rise in a MNI survey of economists.
The sharp rise in March sales compared with a slump in March 2011,
when the massive earthquake caused a supply chain breakdown for cars and
electronics while many consumers outside disaster areas refrained from
spending out of respect for the victims.
Retail sales of automobiles surged 50.4% from a year earlier in
March, posting the sixth consecutive y/y rise after rising 21.3% in
February.
Car sales sagged in most of 2011 after the government ended
subsidies for buying low-emission vehicles in September 2010 but they
are now being supported by the resumption of the program in December
last year.
Reflecting higher gasoline and heating oil prices, retail sales of
fuel gained 6.2% in March, faster than a 5.0% rise in the previous
month.
Meanwhile, retail sales of machinery and equipment including
consumer electronics posted an eight straight on-year drop but the pace
of decline slowed to -12.0% in March from -16.1% in February.
Other details from the latest data:
Commercial sales, or combined sales at the wholesale and retail
levels (y/y): March +3.0%, the first rise in five months.
Sales at the wholesale level (y/y): March +0.5%, also the first
rise in five months.
Large retail store sales on a same-store adjusted basis (y/y):
March 5.0%, a second straight rise.
Large retail store sales, unadjusted (y/y): March +6.0%, a second
straight rise.
tokyo@marketnews.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **
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