Real Singapore retail sales slide

Singapore retail sales plummeted 4.6 per cent in October compared with a year ago.

Those are the “real” retail sales which exclude motor vehicles. Include cars and year on year sales rose 2.7 per cent.

Compared with September, October’s ‘real’ sales were down 0.3 per cent, but with cars included were up one per cent.

Sales of food & beverage services declined 3.8 per cent year on year, or by 0.6 per cent from September to October.

Data from Statistics Singapore shows retail sales of medical goods & toiletries rose 11.3 per cent year on year. Sales from supermarkets and department stores grew by 1.1 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively.

Singapore retail sales October 2015

But that growth was offset by declines in sales of telecommunications apparatus & computers, recreational goods, food & beverages and optical goods & books of between 11.6 per cent and 19.4 per cent. Retailers of watches & jewellery, furniture & household  equipment, mini-marts & convenience stores and wearing apparel & footwear also registered lower sales of between 1.5 per cent and 9.7 per cent.

Month on month, sales of food & beverages, watches & jewellery, department stores, furniture & household equipment, supermarkets and optical goods & books declined between 1.6 per cent and 7.9 per cent from September to October.

Singapore F&B retail sales October 2015

Sales of medical goods & toiletries, wearing apparel & footwear, telecommunications apparatus & computers, mini-marts & convenience stores and recreational goods increased between 2.1 per cent and eight per cent in October compared to September.

In the food sector, turnover of fast food outlets, food caterers and other eating places (such as cafes) declined between 0.4 per cent and 5.8 per cent in October 2015 against September. Restaurant sales rose 1.6 per cent.

Year on year, food sales at restaurants, other eating places and food caterers decreased between 0.2 per cent and 5.8 per cent, while fast food outlet turnover grew by two per cent during the same period.

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