Retail Sales Decline 8.2 Percent from Last Year in Brazil

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Retail sales results in Brazil fell in October, according to the country’s official statistics bureau, the IBGE, by 0.8 percent in comparison to September in the seasonally adjusted series. In comparison to October of 2015, retail sales fell by 8.2 percent.

The results register its 19th consecutive negative rate and accumulating a decline of 6.8 percent in the last 12 months, the highest for this indicator since 2001.

“The decline in October was mainly caused by the negative results registered in supermarkets, food and beverages (-0.6 percent) and fuels and lubricants (-1.7 percent), and to a smaller extent to pharmaceuticals products (-0.1 percent),” said the report issued by the Bureau on Tuesday.

In four of the eight sectors analyzed, including computer equipment and materials, clothing and footwear, and books, newspapers and magazines, sales grew. The sale of furniture and appliances remained stable during the month.

In relation to nominal revenues, the retail sales index fell by 0.5 percent in October in comparison to the previous month, but grew by 1.9 percent in relation to October of 2015 and +4.3 percent in the accumulated total for the 12 months ending in October.

The Bureau also analyzed retail sales with the sectors of construction materials and vehicles, the so-called extended retail sector. With these additional sectors, retail sales fell by 0.3 percent in the monthly comparison, with vehicles and motorcycles registering a reduction by 0.3 percent in sales and construction material registering a steep decline of four percent.

According to the IBGE in October 2016, in the seasonally adjusted series, retail sales were negative for 15 of the 27 Brazilian states in comparison to the previous month, with the highest rates of variation observed in Roraima (-1.9 percent), Piauí and Amapá (both with -1.7 percent).

Compared to October 2015 retail sales volume fell in 25 of the 27 states and the most intense setbacks were in Paraíba (-18.7 percent) and Amapá (-16.9 percent).