Cyprus retail sales accelerate in June

Pharmacies have a bumper year

Retail sales growth accelerated in June, as the volume of sales rose by 5.5% compared with the year-earlier period, compared with a rise of just 1.3% in May. The value of retail sales also accelerated, rising by 4.2% compared with June 2004, after a rise of just 0.5% in May.

On a year-to-date basis, retail sales volume is up 6.2% compared with the previous year. In 2004 as a whole, retail sales rose by 3.3%.

Pharmacies are having a bumper year. Volume sales of pharmaceutical goods, cosmetics and toiletries rose year on year by 28.5% in June and by 35.4% in the first six months.

We have tried to contact various pharmacy representatives to find out why sales growth was so strong, but so far with no success.

Food sales have also performed fairly strongly, with sales at “non-specialised stores sales” of food (ie, supermarkets, mini-markets and kiosks) up by 10.8% year on year in June and 12.5% in the first six months.

Specialised food stores–bakeries, butchers and so on–performed less strongly, rising by 4.1% year on year in June, but this marked a recovery from the 1.4% decline in May.

Despite the apparent slowdown in the housing market, sales of household goods continued to put up a strong showing, with sales of furniture, households goods, electrical goods and hardware up 6.3% in June and 8.3% in January-June.

The only two categories showing a clear decline are sales at books, stationery and newspaper store sales and second hand goods, both of which declined in both June and in the first six months.

Fiona Mullen