Sales in commerce grow for 4th month
O Estado de S. Paulo
The sales of foods kept on the rise in commerce and assured an increase of 4.7% in the sales in August compared to the same month of last year. The sales in commerce grew 0.7% in relation to July, in the fourth consecutive increase in relation to the preceding month, accumulating 4.7% of growth in the year and 5.4% in 12 months. In August, the sales of hyper and supermarkets, food products and tobacco, of greater weight in the research, increased 8.5% and contributed, alone, with four percentage points, or 86% of the total increase in the month. The sales of pharmaceutical articles, however, that have lesser weight in the research than supermarkets, registered the best performance among the activities researched and increased 14.9% in August this year compared to the same month of last year.
The sales of supermarkets and pharmaceutical products have sped up the growth after the beginning of the crisis. The sales of the group led by super and hypermarkets grew 33.4% between 2004 and 2008 - period in which the retail in general grew 46% - with an annual average of growth of 5.9%. From January to August, the segment grew 7.4%, a faster pace than that of the five prior years.
Some segments of durable goods, however, more dependent on the credit and to consumers expectations, featured a slow down in the rhythm of growth this year. Computer equipment, for instance, accumulated an increase of 280.5% from 2004 to 2008, with an annual average of growth of 30.6%. From January to August, this sector still accumulates growth in sales (13.3%), but at a less intense rhythm. A similar situation takes place with furniture and home appliances, whose sales increased 115% from 2004 to 2008 - an annual average of 16.5% - and, even with the incentive of the reduction of the Excise Tax (IPI) for white line products for a good part of this year, they accumulate a fall of 1.6% from January to August 2009.