Bar volumes down 5% in February

Bar sales volumes were down 5.1% in February compared to the same month in 2018 while bar sales values fell 1.4% according to the CSO’s seasonally-adjusted provisional figures.

February’s bar sales volumes were down 1.0% on January but February’s bar sales values were up 1.1% against the preceding month.

This can be set against a rise of 2.1% in the volume of retail sales generally in February 2019 over January 2019, with an annual increase of 5.1%.

Across the three month period December 2018 to February 2019 bar sales volumes were down 4.2% on the same quarter the previous year, while bar sales values were down 0.9%.

Compared to September to November 2018, the immediately preceding quarter, bar sales volumes were down 1.8% with values down 2.2%.

Final figures for January 2019 show bar sales volumes down 4.7% on January 2018, with values down 0.8%.

Compared to the previous month, December 2018, January’s bar sales volumes were down 1.9% while values were down 3.1%.