Official figures show that the volume of retail sales dropped sharply in February, mainly because of a big decline in motor trade sales after a strong January.
The Central Statistics Office said the volume of sales fell by 2.2% in February from January, the biggest drop since February 2004. The figures are adjusted to take account of seasonal factors.
Motor trade sales - which include petrol and forecourt as well as car sales - slumped 3.8% in the month. When these are stripped out, sales were up 1.3%% in the month. Food, furniture and electrical goods also showed declines, but bar sales were up 2.4% in the month.
Sales volumes showed an annual growth rate of 6.8%, however. The value of sales, which takes account of prices, fell 2.1% in the month but grew by 7.5% over the year.
Bloxham economist Alan McQuaid pointed out that, for the first two months of the year, the volume of sales was 7% higher on the same months last year. He said the outlook for 2007 was still for a further pick-up in the rate of increase in consumer spending. He expects a 7.25% increase in sales this year.
Davy Stockbrokers also said its forecast of 7% growth for the year was still on track. The broker said there seemed to be a problem with the seasonal adjustment of the series, as the pattern in recent years has been a sharp monthly jump in January followed by slippage in February. Seasonally adjusted figures are supposed to smooth out the effects of once-off events such as the January sales.
