Annual bar sales down 7.5%

Bar sales volumes showed a further decline in January of 7.5 per cent compared to January 2010 although bearing in mind the weather conditions last Christmas they were up 1.3 per cent on the previous month, according to seasonally adjusted preliminary figures from the CSO for January.

Bar sales values also showed a decline of 7.4 per cent in January on an annual basis but sales values increased by 2.6 per cent on December.

Not surprisingly, final figures for a Wintry December show that bar sales volumes were down 9.7 per cent but they were still up 2.7 per cent on the November figure while sales values plummeted 11.4 per cent compared to December 2009, but were up 2.9 per cent compared to November.

Over the three-month period November to January, sales volumes fell by 9.7 per cent compared to the same period the previous year while they fell by 2.3 per cent compared to the August to October period. Sales values fell by 11.0 per cent compared to the previous November-January period and by 2.3 per cent compared to the August-October period.

This contrasts with retail sales volumes which were generally up 4.6 per cent in January compared to the previous January 2010 and up 3.8 per cent on December. Sales values were up 4.0 per cent on an annual basis with there being a drop of 1.4 per cent compared to December 2010.

Without the Motor Trade figures though, retail sales volumes decreased by 1.2 per cent compared with the previous January although sales were still up 2.7 per cent on December. Excluding the Motor Trade, sales values were down 1.0 per cent compared to January 2010 but up 2.6 per cent compared to December 2010.