TOKYO (MNI) – Japanese retail sales in April appeared to have
posted a second straight year-on-year drop of 6.0% but the pace of
decline would be slower than a revised 8.3% drop in March, according to
the median forecast by economists polled by Market News International.
The Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry will release the data on
Friday, May 27 (2350 GMT Thursday).
Department store sales in Japan fell only 1.5% from a year earlier
to Y475.0 billion in April, posting the second consecutive monthly y/y
drop but improving from the 14.7% plunge in March, as rolling power
outages in eastern cities were called off a few weeks after the March 11
disaster, Japan Department Stores Association data showed.
Retail stores in Tokyo and neighbouring cities were forced to cut
business hours through early April amid rolling blackouts imposed by
Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
power plant whose cooling systems were knocked out by the disaster.
Shopping restraint out of respect for the disaster victims also
eased, the association said.
Pent-up demand and warmer weather conditions supported sales of
spring clothing while one more Saturday in April this year compared with
a year earlier contributed to the smaller sales drop, it said.
On the downside, as consumer confidence deteriorated, new vehicle
sales in Japan tumbled at a record pace in April, according to data
released by the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
New vehicle sales plunged 51.0% from a year earlier to 108,824 last
month, the eighth straight month of a year-on-year decline, following a
37.0% drop in March.
The previous record decline was marked in May 1974, when sales
plunged 45.1% following the outbreak of the first oil crisis.
skodama@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4838 **
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