Retail spending increased in the September 2014 quarter, led by rises in the food-related industries, Statistics New Zealand said last month.

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the volume of total retail trade sales rose 1.5 percent in the September 2014 quarter, after a 1.1 percent rise in the June quarter. The last time the sales volume rose more than 1.5 percent was in the June 2012 quarter (1.9 percent).

“Two food-related industries led this quarter’s increase, having the largest rises in both sales volume and value,” business indicators manager Neil Kelly said.

The sales volume for supermarket and grocery stores was up 1.9 percent, while food and beverage services sales were up 3.0 percent. Twelve of the 15 retail industries had higher sales volumes.

The volume of sales in core retail (which excludes the vehicle-related industries) rose 1.4 percent.

When the effect of price changes is included, the total value of retail sales rose 0.9 percent ($174 million), with sales rising in nine of the 15 retail industries. For core retail, the sales value rose 0.8 percent ($120 million).

Looking at the longer-term picture, the trends for both total retail sales volumes, and values, have generally been rising since mid-2009.

In actual terms, the value of total retail sales was $18.3 billion in the September 2014 quarter, up 4.1 percent compared with the September 2013 quarter.

Statistics New Zealand