KEY POINTS:
Consumers are cutting back spending at the supermarket, but vehicle sales were on a roll in April, according to new retail numbers released this morning.
Total retail sales rose just 1 per cent - $52 million in April, says Statistics New Zealand.
This followed a 1.2 per cent fall in March. Core retail sales (which excludes the vehicle related industries) fell by 0.5 per cent or $19 million.
Petrol prices have risen significantly this week and today's numbers follow a Statistics NZ report yesterday showing a 1 per cent rise in monthly food prices in May, taking the annual rise to 6.8 per cent - the highest since 7.7 per cent in the year to October 2001.
In an indication of the effect of rising prices, 56 per cent of the first 1000 people to vote in a poll on nzherald.co.nz today said higher food and petrol costs would affect their plans for the coming weekend.
The May increase came mainly from higher prices for fruit and vegetables (up 3.8 per cent), non-alcoholic beverages (up 2.6 per cent) and grocery food (up 0.5 per cent).
Over the year, grocery prices have risen 11.8 per cent.
The total retail sales trend, which has been rising since June 1998 at an average rate of 0.5 per cent a month, has this year flattened out to an average of just 0.1 per cent.
Of the 24 different retail sectors studied, 14 recorded higher sales in April than in March. Star of the show was motor vehicles, which rose 8.1 per cent, or $51 million. This growth was partly offset by a 3.6 per cent drop in supermarket and grocery sales - a $43 million fall.
The retail sales trend for the North Island has been falling an average of 0.2 per cent a month since February. The trend for the South Island has started to flatten too.
Auckland retail sales were up 2 per cent, Wellington up 3.8 per cent, while the highest increase went to Canterbury, with a 6.7 per cent increase.
The figures are all seasonally adjusted.
- NZHERALD STAFF
