Brazilian retail trade sales were practically stable in October, with a slight drop of 0.1%, informed the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) this Wednesday (8).
The market expected an increase of 0.8% on a monthly basis and a fall of 5.60% year-on-year, according to a survey by Reuters.
The stability with a downward bias, as the IBGE calls it, comes after two consecutive months of retreat. In September, the sector had registered a fall of 1.3% and, in August, of 3.1, the worst result of the year.
The October data places the sector 6.4% below the record level reached in October 2020, says the IBGE. Both in the year and in 12 months, the sector accumulates a gain of 2.6%. In September, the rate in 12 months was 3.9%, which indicates a reduction in the pace of sales, highlights the survey.
In comparison with October 2020, the decline in trade is 7.1%, the third in a row.
The escalation of prices in the economy – especially in food and fuel – has been slowing down the pace of consumption. With that, the supermarket segment that traditionally drives the numbers at this time of year, came shy.
“We’ve already seen the hyper and supermarket sector for a few months, which has a large weight, pushing the index up. But that was not what happened in October, a month in which we had a balance between the sectors”, explains the research manager, Cristiano Santos, in a note.
Five of the eight activities considered in the survey for the calculation were in the negative field. The largest came from the sectors of books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (-1.1%), furniture and household appliances (-0.5%), fuels and lubricants (-0.3%) and hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (-0.3%).
On the high side are fabrics, apparel and footwear (0.6%), other articles of personal and domestic use (1.4%) and office, computer and communication equipment and material (5.6%).
The institute emphasizes that the activity of fabrics, clothing and shoes was one of the ones that dropped the most at the beginning of the pandemic, due to the social distance, since the sector is very dependent on the circulation of people in the streets. Despite showing recovery, the consumption pattern has not returned to its pre-pandemic levels.
In expanded retail trade, which includes, in addition to retail, the activities of vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces and construction material, sales volume decreased by 0.9% compared to September. In this comparison, the segment of vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces dropped 0.5%, while construction material dropped 0.9%.
fourth quarter weak
The result of the trade sector below expectations is combined with the weak performance of the industry – whose production registered a decline of 0.6% in October, according to an announcement made last week by the IBGE.
Data from the main sectors of the economy are important indicators that activity continued with the brakes on at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The result of the services sector is still missing, which will be announced in the next few days.
It is noteworthy that, in the third quarter, the Brazilian economy entered a technical recession, registering a contraction for the second time in a row, with losses in agriculture and exports overshadowing gains in services, in a scenario of high inflation and rising interest rates in the country and despite the advances in vaccination against Covid-19.
Brazil’s Gross Domestic Product dropped 0.1% between July and September.
Reference: CNN Brasil
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