Singapore's retail sales down 2.5 percent in February

Singapore's retail sales decreased by 2.5 percent in February year-on-year, said the Department of Statistics Singapore (SingStat) on Wednesday.

Retail sales dropped 4.9 percent year-on-year excluding motor vehicles, said SingStat in the report. The total retail sales value in February was estimated at 3.3 billion Singapore dollars (2.35 billion U.S. dollars), similar to that in February 2016.

On a month-on-month basis, retail sales increased 2.3 percent in February, SingStat added. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales increased 0.4 percent.

Retail sales of food and beverages, supermarkets, department stores as well as wearing apparel and footwear decreased between 12.5 percent and 17.4 percent in February.

Similarly, retail sales of mini-marts and convenience stores as well as computer and telecommunications equipment declined 8.9 percent and 5.7 percent respectively over the same period.

On the contrary, retail sales of petrol service stations increased 14.6 percent in February over February 2016.

Retail sales of motor vehicles, medical goods and toiletries, recreational goods, furniture and household equipment, optical goods and books as well as watches and jewelry also rose between 0.1 percent and 9.4 percent on a year-on-year basis.

As for food and beverage services, sales for the sector in February fell 7.4 percent year-on-year, posting a 4.8 percent decrease on a month-on-month basis.

The total sales value of food and beverage services in February was estimated at 657 million Singapore dollars, lower than the 710 million Singapore dollars in the same period of 2016.

The Retail Sales Index and the Food and Beverage Services Index measure the short-term performance of retail and food and beverage service industries based on their sales records. The sales figures exclude taxes. (1 Singapore dollar = 0.71 U.S. dollar) Enditem