UK non-food product sales decreased the most in five years in the fourth quarter, the British Retail Consortium reported Tuesday.
According to BRC, in-store sales of non-food items declined 3.7 percent on a total basis and 4.4 percent on a like-for-like basis in the fourth quarter, the deepest since the records began in December 2012.
In the fourth quarter, food sales increased 2.6 percent on a like-for-like basis and 4.2 percent on a total basis. This was the highest since June.
Meanwhile, non-food retail sales fell 1.9 percent on a like-for-like basis and 1.4 percent on a total basis, the lowest since March 2009, the BRC said.
In December, retail sales grew 0.6 percent on a like-for-like basis from previous year, when they had increased 1.0 percent from the preceding year.
Similarly, on a total basis, sales rose 1.4 percent in December, slower than the 1.7 percent increase in December 2016.
“With spending likely to remain under severe pressure in the next few years, it’s imperative that in the forthcoming trade negotiations, the Government does all it can to avoid adding new tariffs to existing price pressures,” Helen Dickinson OBE, chief executive of BRC said.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com
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