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Retail sales down: Germans save when shopping

2022-10-07T08:45:41.539Z


Germany's retailers are feeling the reluctance of customers: sales fell in August. Only gas stations reported outliers to the upside. Bad figures are also coming from industry.


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Empty shopping street: consumers are more cautious

Photo: Marcus Brandt / dpa

For a long time, consumers in Germany supported economic development with their desire to buy.

But that is changing.

The turnover of retail companies fell in August - especially the food trade recorded losses.

As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, real sales fell by 1.3 percent compared to July.

Compared to August of the previous year, there was even a real minus of 4.3 percent.

Nominally, i.e. not price-adjusted, there was a plus in each case.

This reflects the high price increases in retail.

Grocery retail sales fell 1.7 percent in real terms compared to July and 3.1 percent yoy.

According to the statisticians, this was the lowest sales level since January 2017.

Online and mail order sales in August fell by 7 percent in real terms compared to the previous month and by 7.1 percent compared with August last year.

There were also real declines in sales in the trade in textiles and shoes, household appliances and construction supplies.

Many people have significant reserves because they were not able to travel or shop as much during the corona pandemic.

But the recent extremely high prices for energy, for example, are slowing down consumption.

Petrol stations benefit from the end of the tank discount

Gas stations were the outliers in August: In the last month of the tank discount, many drivers took the opportunity to fill up their supplies.

This gave gas stations a record increase in sales: in August 2022, real sales at gas stations rose by 14 percent compared to the previous month and by 12.6 percent compared to the same month last year.

According to the Federal Office, this is the largest increase in sales from both perspectives since the start of the time series in 1994.

Prices of imported goods are rising

Further data from the statisticians indicate that consumer prices will not ease off any time soon.

Because the prices of goods imported into Germany are rising more strongly again after the sharp upswing in the previous months had cooled off somewhat.

According to the Federal Statistical Office, import prices rose by 32.7 percent in August compared to the same month last year.

It is the strongest increase since 1974. Import prices had also risen sharply in the previous months, albeit with a weaker trend.

Natural gas and electricity significantly more expensive

Energy prices continue to rise particularly sharply.

Imported energy was around 162 percent more expensive in August than a year earlier.

Compared to the previous month alone, the increase was almost 19 percent.

The main reason is the sharp rise in natural gas prices, which are around four times higher than a year ago.

Electricity costs about 465 percent more than a year earlier.

Compared to the previous month alone, the prices for imported electricity increased by almost half.

Many intermediate goods also rose sharply in price.

Import prices represent one of several price levels that affect consumer prices.

The high energy prices are also affecting German industry.

This reduced its total production in August.

Compared to the previous month, production in the three major sectors of industrial manufacturing, energy and construction fell by a total of 0.8 percent, the statisticians said.

The Federal Ministry of Economics also blamed severe obstacles caused by the extremely low water level of the Rhine in summer for the decline.

For the year as a whole, total production increased by 2.1 percent in August.

While more capital and consumer goods were produced, the production of intermediate goods declined.

Further decline expected

The new data gave hope that the German economy had not yet contracted in the summer, said Commerzbank analyst Ralph Solveen.

"However, a clear minus is to be expected for the winter half-year." The mood among companies and consumers has recently clouded over noticeably.

Franziska Palmas from the analysis company Capital Economics is also pessimistic about the development in the medium term.

Industry did better than expected in the summer quarter.

"However, since the energy crisis and weaker demand will weigh heavily on industry in the coming months, we expect industrial production to decline sharply."

mmq/dpa/AFP

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2022-10-07

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