Singapore's Aug retail sales up again to beat forecasts

Singapore

SINGAPORE retail sales in August rose 3.5 per cent from a year ago, continuing its positive year-on-year growth seen in previous months, based on data released by the Department of Statistics on Thursday.

The total retail sales value in August 2017 was estimated at S$3.7 billion, higher than the S$3.5 billion a year ago.

Analysts polled by Bloomberg had tipped sales to rise by 2.4 per cent.

With motor vehicle sales stripped out, retail sales rose 3.7 per cent year on year.

"This marked the strongest retail sales print since March 2016, even though the Great Singapore Sale (GSS) had ended, but was partly attributable to a low base last year,'' said Selena Ling, Head of Treasury Research and Strategy at OCBC Bank.

Most categories showed better retail takings in August versus a year ago, with nine out of 13 categories having positive growth. Petrol service stations led the pack, notching up 9.5 per cent gains year on year, followed by recreational goods (8.3 per cent) and medical goods and toiletries (7.6 per cent). Motor vehicle sales rose 2.8 per cent year on year.

The four categories which saw a slide in sales were optical goods and books (minus 4.1 per cent), food retailers (minus 2.1 per cent), mini-marts and convenience stores (minus 1.1 per cent) and watches and jewellery (minus 0.4 per cent). However, when compared to the previous month, total retail sales fell 0.3 per cent. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales slipped 1.2 per cent.

Looking ahead, Ms Ling expects retail sales growth to be sustained in the fourth quarter amid the festive season and provide some cheer to domestic retailers.

"Given the domestic labour market is holding up and there are tentative signs of reflation in the private residential property market of late, domestic private consumption should be relatively resilient.

"Moreover, total visitor arrivals to Singapore had hit a record high of 1.63 million in July 2017 and reached 10.18 million (+3.8 per cent on year) for the first seven months of the year, so this also portends well to tourism-related expenditure in the local economy," Ms Ling said.