Irish retail sales record biggest monthly drop in five years

Irish retail sales went into reverse in February, registering their worst monthly performance in five years.

The slowdown comes before the coronavirus shutdown, which is expected to result in one of the biggest fall in sales on record.

The latest figures show sales volumes declined by 4.3 per cent month on month in February and by 0.3 per cent on an annual basis. The last time sales fell by a greater amount was in April 2015.

The main drag was car sales, which fell by 6.4 per cent. When motor trades are excluded from the numbers the volume of retail sales decreased by 2.4 per cent in February and rose by 1.6 per cent when compared with February last year.

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The March figures are expected to show a much bigger decline, potentially one of the biggest on record, with shops and businesses on lockdown because of the coronavirus.

The latest numbers did not pick up any evidence of stockpiling either with sales volumes in non-specialised stores, which include supermarkets, down 0.4 per cent in February.

Panic buying of necessities has been a feature of the grocery sector since the outbreak of the coronavirus. The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) may reflect the quiet before the storm, however.

The February figures show the sectors with the largest month on month volume decreases were motor trades (-6.4 per cent) and hardware, paints and glass (-1.6 per cent).

The sectors with the largest month on month volume increases were furniture and lighting (+6.6 per cent ) and clothing, footwear and textiles (+3.2 per cent).

There was a decrease of 4.3 per cent in the value of retail sales in February when compared with January and an annual decrease of 0.4 per cent, which may reflect price discounting.