Bar sales down 1.9%

CSO estimates for December indicate that bar sales values were up 3.3 per cent over the November figure but they were down 1.9 per cent for the year as a whole.

While December’s bar sales were up 2.7 per cent in volume over November they were down 1.7 per cent for the year.

Final figures for November show bar sales values up 0.8 per cent over October but down by 3.8 per cent on the year. They were up 1.0 per cent in volume over October but down 3.5 per cent on the year as a whole.

The last quarter saw sales values in bars down 1.7 per cent compared to the  July-September period and down 4.7 per cent on the October-December quarter in 2010. Volume sales in bars were down 1.7 per cent on the previous quarter and they were down by 4.6 per cent when compared to the final quarter of 2010.

General retail sales volumes were up 2.1 per cent in December compared to the previous month, November, while they were up three per cent over the course of the year.