UK Retail Sector continues to show signs of weakness
by:Kritika Jain
|in:Economy in Brief
The latest estimates from the CBI Distributive Trades Survey indicate a sharp contraction in retail sales volume. The sharp fall in the expectations component further suggests that this weakness could persist through the coming month, presenting a challenging landscape for the retail sector.
The key messages from today’s survey included:
• Headline sales volumes in the retail sector continued to decline for a third consecutive month. The balance of respondents suggesting comparing sales volumes with a year ago sales fell to -25% in July from -9% in June. The expectations balance in the meantime fell to -35% in July from a balance of zero in June.
• Forward-looking gauges, moreover, additionally hint that further weakness is to come. Underlying details of the survey, for example, revealed weakness in new orders and elevated finished inventory positions.
• Alongside this, the CBI Distributive Trade Survey reported a decline in wholesale sales volumes but at a slower pace in July (-9% from -15% in June). As for the expectation component, wholesalers anticipate volumes to fall at a similar pace next month.
• The balance for motor trade sales volumes also fell to -27% in July from -11% in June, with a modest decline in sales volume expected in August.
Kritika Jain
AuthorMore in Author Profile »Kritika joined Haver Analytics as a Junior Economist in August 2022. She writes commentary on UK macroeconomic trends and provides client support of Haver’s data content and proprietary software.
From 2019 to 2022 Kritika worked in Financial Accounting and Capital Markets. Prior to working in financial services, she was a research assistant at Frontier Economics within the public policy practice and has also interned at HM Revenue and Customs.
Kritika holds an MA in Economics from the University of Manchester and a BA in Economics from India.
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