Retail sales in July in Japan, which show the country’s economic sentiment, rose 2.4 percent year-on-year to 12.73 trillion yen, the Nikkei Shimbun reported on the 30th.
Citing statistics on July’s commercial trends released by Ministry of Economy and Industry Japan, the media pointed out that retail sales have increased for the fifth consecutive month.
The market’s expected median increase was 2.1 percent, but it actually exceeded 0.3 percentage points. The seasonally adjusted value increased 1.1 percent from the previous month to positive for the second consecutive month.
The figure rose 4.7 percent from July 2019, before the outbreak of coronavirus. Supermarkets and others have increased due to the demand for home work.
Department stores rose 2.6 percent to 445.8 billion yen, supermarkets increased 0.8 percent to 1.268 trillion yen, and convenience stores also increased 6.1 percent to 1.48 trillion yen.
However, large-scale home appliances stores and home centers fell 2.9% and 2.4 percent year-on-year. Last year, home appliances had a large rebound factor due to the flat payment effect and the demand for home work.
By industry, the fuel retail industry increased 27.7 percent from the same month last year. It increased its increase by 2.03 percentage points. Rising gasoline prices contributed.
Automobiles increased 3.1 percent and textiles and clothing increased 2.9 percent, respectively.
