Retail sales up six per cent in September

The volume index for retail trade rose by just under six per cent in September this year compared with September last year. The value index rose by just over eight per cent during the same period.

Retail trade in this context always excludes motor vehicles and gasoline.

Retail sales of other new merchandise including clothing, shoes, electrical goods, furniture, hardware, paint and building materials increased by just over 10 per cent in September this year compared with September last year. The sales volume of shops selling pharmaceuticals, medical goods, cosmetics and toiletries was up nearly eight per cent during the same period. The volume index for non-specialized stores, which for the most part consist of grocery stores, increased by just over two per cent. Similar figures for retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores showed little change.

The seasonally adjusted volume index for retail sales went down by 2.3 per cent from August to September this year.

Revised figures

The indices for May, June, July and August have been revised downwards by about two per cent on the basis of new information from the VAT register and the sales of new retailers.

The final figure for the value index for September 1998 is 2.8 per cent lower than the preliminary figure published on 23 October this year. This is due both to new information from the VAT register and the revision of the submitted monthly data for September.

New Statistics
Index of retail sales, September 1998.
The statistics are published monthly in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information, contact: Rune.Sonsterudbraten@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 54 37, or Solveig.Nygardseter@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 51 74. Goods consumption index: Monica.Henriksen@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 46 99 or Kristian.Gimming@ssb.no, tel. +47 21 09 44 17.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 46, 1998