January bar volumes down 3.1%

Sales volumes in bars decreased by 3.1% in in January compared with January 2018 according to provisional seasonally-adjusted figures from the CSO, but bar sales values for January were up by 0.8% on an annual basis.

Bar sales volumes were down 0.3% in January compared to the previous month, December 2018, while sales values showed a decline of 1.5% in the month.

Final figures for December 2018 show a 3.0% decline in bar sales volumes and a 0.5% decline in values compared to December 2017.

Compared to November 2018, bar sales volumes and values were both down 1.1%.

Provisional seasonally-adjusted figures for the three months November 2018 to January 2019 show a bar sales volume decline of 2.3% but a 0.4% value increase compared to the same three-month period in 2017/’18.

And compared with the immediately previous (August-October 2018) quarter bar sales were down 0.1% in both volume and value.

General retail sales volumes decreased by 1.2% in January.