14 August 2006
Fuel and Supermarkets Boost Quarterly Sales
Seasonally adjusted total retail sales increased 0.9 percent in the June 2006 quarter compared with the March 2006
quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. This result was driven by increases in the automotive fuel retailing (up 8.7
percent) and supermarket and grocery stores (up 2.9 percent) industries. Automotive fuel recorded the largest seasonally
adjusted sales increase since the beginning of the series.
This increase, however, was mainly due to price increases.
The largest decrease in sales came from the motor vehicle retailing industry. No other industries recorded dollar-value
changes greater than $15 million in the June 2006 quarter.
With price effects removed, total retail sales decreased 0.5 percent in the June 2006 quarter. The largest volume
increase came from the supermarket and grocery stores industry, with the motor vehicle and fuel retailing industries
recording the largest decreases for the quarter.
The total sales trend has shown indications of easing in recent quarters, with the average quarterly increase reducing
to 0.8 percent since the September 2005 quarter, compared to an average quarterly increase of 1.5 percent between the
June 1998 and September 2005 quarters.
Brian Pink
Government Statistician
ENDS