Sales by the retail and food and beverage sectors last month continued their upward trend, reaching the highest May levels on record, while sales in the wholesale sector fell for a seventh straight month on an annual basis, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.
Retail sales totaled NT$376.3 billion (US$12.13 billion) last month, an annual increase of 16.6 percent, while food and beverage sales reached NT$82.9 billion, up 44 percent year-on-year, the report said.
Last month’s increases in retail, and food and beverage sales were the fastest since July last year, when sales rose 18.1 percent and 78.3 percent respectively, ministry data showed.
Photo: CNA
The increase in retail sales was mainly driven by department store sales, which soared 56.5 percent from a year earlier, as well as sales in the apparel sector, which advanced 46 percent, while sales of vehicles, motorbikes and related components rose 37.2 percent.
Other growth drivers were household appliances, whose sales rose 17.7 percent from a year earlier, and food, beverage and tobacco products, whose sales gained 7.9 percent, the report said.
As for the food and beverage sector, the ministry said that catering service providers reported an 80.7 percent annual increase in sales, due to steady demand for in-flight meals, as air travel continued to recover.
In addition, restaurant sales rose 45.9 percent year-on-year, thanks to the effects of Mothers’ Day celebrations and a relatively lower comparison base last year, while beverage sales increased 22.6 percent on the back of new product launches and stronger demand for cold drinks amid rising temperatures, it added.
In the first five months of this year, retail sales rose 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$1.85 trillion, the highest for the period on record, while food and beverage sales also increased 24.5 percent over the period to a record NT$419.8 billion, ministry data showed.
Performance of the wholesale sector remained weak last month, as lackluster global demand and monetary tightening by central banks caused firms to continue inventory destocking, which led to low demand for machinery equipment, building materials and chemicals, the ministry said.
Overall sales dropped 12.9 percent from a year earlier to NT$945.7 billion last month, it said.
For the first five months of this year, wholesale revenue fell 12.5 percent from a year earlier to NT$4.64 trillion, it said.
For this month, the ministry forecast that retail and food and beverage sales would grow on the back of the holiday effect, with more people willing to spend during the graduation season and summer break, as well as promotional campaigns launched by auto dealers.
However, sales in the wholesale sector would likely stay in negative territory this month, as macroeconomic uncertainty remains and firms are still digesting inventory, the ministry added.
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