Retail sales grow 3.2% in May in SP
Valor Econômico - 07/03/2008
Retail sales in the metropolitan region of São Paulo increased 3.2% in May, compared to the performance of the same month in 2007. Irrespective of the growth, the Federation of Commerce of the State of São Paulo (Fecomercio) believes the increase of inflation may start affecting sales in the next months. From January to May, the growth in sales of the sector is 5.9% compared to the same period of 2007. The entity believes the behavior of commerce will depend on the effect of the measures of control of inflation. "The changes in credit access and the real income reduction, whether due to the increase of the taxes or due to the increase of inflation, may have immediate consequences in the next months on the sales activity", states Fecomercio in its report. Under the influence of Mothers' Day, the sector with best results in the month was clothes, textiles and footwear, whose sales had an increase of 27.9% compared to May, 2007. In the period of five months the expansion of the sector already reaches 24%. Nonetheless, it is expected that this tendency of increase starts cooling down in June, due to the increasing indebtedness of consumers. Another remarkable sector in the month was the sector of car dealerships, in which real sales grew 12% in the month. It was the second best month of the year for the segment and Fecomercio evaluates that easy credit is the main driver of that expansion. In decoration and furniture stores, the evolution of sales was 10.5% in May. As in the other segments, credit helps increase the sales of the sector, pushed up by the heating of the real estate sector in São Paulo.