Bar sales volumes down 0.3% in March

Bar sales volumes fell by 0.3% in March compared with sales figures for March 2013 although values were up by 2.3% according to the CSO’s provisional retail sales statistics.

On a monthly basis, bar sales volumes were 0.3% up on February but values were 0.4% down.

Final figures for February reveal a 0.1% increase in sales volumes compared to February 2013 and a 2.6% increase in values. Compared to January 2014, February’s bar sales were down by 0.2% in volume but up by 0.8% in value.

Taken over a three-month period January to March 2014 sales volumes were down 0.2% compared to the same period in 2013 while values were up 2.3%.

Compared to the previous October to December 2013 period sales volumes were down 2.7%. Values were also down – by 1.6%.

There was an increase of 1.4% in the overall value of retail sales in March 2014 when compared with February 2014 and there was an annual increase of 6.4% when compared with March 2013. If Motor Trades are excluded, there was a monthly decrease of 1.5% in the value of retail sales and an annual decrease of 0.1%.