Retail sales fell 2.5% in March

Sebastiao Moreira/EFE

In March of this year, there was a decrease in 2.5% in retail sales compared to the same period last year. Compared to February, sales volume decreased 0.2%. This data has been highlighted in Fifteenth edition of the Retail Economic Activity Index. Matthews Cavello, an economic researcher and data scientist at Stone, points out that despite the negative numbers in the annual comparison, there is a trend of improvement when analyzing the months of the first quarter of 2024.

Regarding sectors, the report shows that five regions witnessed notable declines compared to the previous year. section Books, newspapers, magazines and stationery It had the largest decline, with 13.2%followed by Building materials with 12%, Fabrics, clothing and shoes with 4.5%, Furniture and appliances with 4.0%that it Pharmaceutical articles with 0.8%. The only part that showed growth was… Hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobaccowith an increase 0.7%.

As for the states, five states emerged with positive results in the annual comparison: Ciara with 8%, Amazon with 5.4%that it Roraima with 5.1%located in the northern and northeastern regions, and Mato Grosso do Sul with 1.6% that it Matto Grosso with 0.9%, in the central-western region. On the other hand, six states recorded declines, reaching Alagoas (14.9%), Piaoui (5%) that it Paraiba (4.4%) in the northern and northeastern regions, and Holy Spirit (4.6%), Rio de Janeiro (2.9%) that it Minas Gerais (2.2%) in the central, western, southeastern and southern regions, showing the largest declines.