Retail trade drops 1% in May

The volume of retail sales fell by 1% in May this year, compared to April. This is the second consecutive retreat of the indicator, which had already fallen by 0.1% in April. The Monthly Survey of Commerce (PMC) was released this Friday (14th), in Rio de Janeiro, by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

There was also a 1% retraction compared to May last year. At the same time, the sector accumulates hikes of 1.3% in the year and 0.8% in 12 months.

The fall from April to May was driven by four of the eight activities surveyed: fabrics, clothing and footwear (-3.3%), hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco (-3.2%), other articles of use personal and domestic (-2.3%) and furniture and household appliances (-0.7%).

However, four activities had growth: pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic and perfumery articles (2.3%), books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (1.7%), fuels and lubricants (1.4%) and equipment and office, IT and communication material (1.1%).

Nominal revenue dropped by 2.1% from April to May, but increased by 0.3% compared to May 2022, 5.5% in the year and 9.6% in the 12 months.

expanded retail

Expanded retail, which also analyzes the construction materials and vehicle and parts sales sectors, had a 1.1% recovery from April to May. The sector of vehicles, motorcycles, parts and pieces grew by 2.1%, but construction materials fell by 0.9%.

The segment had hikes of 3% in comparison with May, 3.1% in the year and 0.2% in the 12 months. Nominal revenue fell 0.6% compared to April and grew 5.7% compared to May 2022, 8.3% accumulated in the year and 9.4% accumulated in 12 months.

Credit

According to the manager of the survey, Cristiano Santos, one of the possible explanations for the drop in the volume of retail sales from April to May is the reduction in credit for families. “Something that has greatly inhibited consumption is the fact that credit for individuals continues to fall. This is the main component that influences this negative result”.

He explains that the main drop – recorded by the food and beverage sector – may be related both to credit and to the question of the availability of income for the purchase of these items.

“It has the vision of choice. If you need to give a gift (like Mother’s Day) or something like that, your income decreases so you can buy other things”, she argues.

In addition, the drop in activity came after a 3.6% increase in April, which increases the basis of comparison for sales in the following month.

Regarding the decline in sales in the clothing and other personal items sectors, which could have been driven by Mother’s Day, also in addition to credit, there is the closure of physical stores, which may have impacted trade. “In these sectors, there is the component of trying the product (in physical stores), which has always been fundamental”, he concludes.

* Matter amended at 10:16 am to add information.