Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors continued to grow last month, rising on an annual basis for the 34th and fifth consecutive month respectively, indicating stable domestic consumption, data released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed.
Retail sales increased 3.9 percent year-on-year to NT$401.5 billion (US$12.23 billion) last month, the highest sales figure on record for the month of June, ministry data showed.
Sales were driven mainly by increased consumption at department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores and hypermarkets, as well as auto dealers, apparel shops, household appliance stores and cosmetics outlets, the ministry said in a report.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
That helped offset a flat performance by e-commerce platforms and a drop in sales at gas stations, and information technology and consumer electronics shops, the ministry said.
Overall, retail sales in the second quarter grew 2.7 percent year-on-year to NT$1.19 trillion and rose 3.2 percent to NT$2.37 trillion in the first half of the year — the highest figure over the period, it said.
Last month, sales in the food and beverage sector grew 6.8 percent annually to NT$87 billion, also a record for the month of June, the ministry said.
It attributed the showing to the Dragon Boat Festival holiday and graduation season gatherings boosting restaurant sales, high temperatures increasing consumption of cold drinks, as well as more catering services buoyed by growing demand for in-flight meals.
In the second quarter, food and beverage sales rose 3.8 percent year-on-year to NT$251.6 billion, and from January to last month, sales increased 5.1 percent to NT$515.8 billion, also a record high for the six-month period, the ministry said.
Sales in the two sectors this month are expected to increase further, benefiting from summer vacation promotions, seasonal demand for cold beverages and purchases of new vehicles ahead of the inauspicious Ghost Month period, it said.
Retail sales this month are expected to grow 3.7 to 6.7 percent year-on-year to between NT$405.1 billion and NT$416.8 billion, while food and beverage sales would increase 0.8 to 3.8 percent to between NT$88.3 billion and NT$90.9 billion, the ministry said.
As for the wholesale sector, sales last month grew 8.5 percent annually to NT$1.06 trillion, increasing for a fourth straight month, on the back of rising shipments of machinery equipment, chemical materials, and clothes and apparel, the report said.
Cumulative sales for the sector in the second quarter rose 12.5 percent to NT$3.2 trillion and increased 9.9 percent to NT$6.24 trillion in the first half of this year from a year earlier, data showed.
Sales in the sector this month are forecast to rise 7.2 to 10.2 percent annually to between NT$1.07 trillion and NT$1.1 trillion, the ministry said.
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