The volume of Hungary’s retail sales declined by 1.4% year on year in February 2013, the Central Statistics Office (KSH) has reported on Thursday. It said the decrease was primarily caused by a drop in sales of food (-2.6%) and fuels (-4.0%).
The 1.4% yr/yr drop follows a 2.6% contraction in January.
Although the altered schedule of publications give us an earlier access to retail stats, the data provided is so scarce that we are simply unable to say anything meaningful about internal business processes. First of all, there are no month-on-month figures to examine. Secondly, the January data have already proved that the picture can change significantly after the release of the preliminary numbers. The 4.1% prelim decline was revised to -2.6%, for instance.
As for the 12-month index we may cautiously say that the contraction of retail sales could have stopped. But, of course, the only indication of that at this point is that the decrease was smaller than in the first month of the year. This may be attributed to a smaller decline in food sales.
Release dates of data on the monthly changes in retail sales: 1.) t+35 days (first estimate), 2.) t+55 days (preliminary data release) and 3.) by the fifth month following the reference quarter (final data). The second preliminary data release of February 2013 can be downloaded from the tables (Stadat) hyperlink after 24 April.
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