March bar sales volumes up 6%

Bar sales volumes were up 6.0% in March compared to the same month in 2015 while bar sales values rose 6.4% according to seasonally adjusted provisional figures from the CSO.

Compared to the previous month, February 2016, sales volumes were up 1.5% while values rose 0.7%.

Final figures for February from the CSO show a lift in sales volumes in bars of 6.6% over the year and a rise in values of 7.5%.

However values and volumes were down on the previous month, January, by 2.1% and 2.8% respectively.

Over the three-month period January to March, bar sales volumes rose 7.6% when compared with the same three-month period in 2015 and they rose by 8.2% in value.

A lesser rise in volumes of 0.6% was recorded when the first three months of seasonally adjusted bar sales for 2016 are compared with the last three months of 2015. Similarly values rose by just 1.0% when compared to the October to December 2015 figures.