Brazil June Supermarket Sales Jump 4.83% On Year -Abras
29 Julio 2009 - 10:16AM
Noticias Dow Jones
Brazilian supermarket sales continued to top last year's figures
in June, leading to increased optimism for year-end growth by the
Brazilian Supermarkets Association.
Supermarket sales in June increased 4.83% in real terms compared
with June 2008, the Abras trade group said Wednesday. The strong
results caused Abras to raise its forecast for sales growth in
2009.
Abras boosted its outlook for annual sales to a 4.5% increase in
2009 versus 2008, up from a previous forecast for 2.5% growth. In
the first six months of 2009, supermarket sales advanced 5.27%
compared with the first half of 2008, Abras said.
June sales, however, slipped 5.59% from May, marking the second
consecutive month-on-month decline, Abras said. That could signal
that consumers were reining in spending as Brazil's economy
continues to rebound from the global slowdown.
The country's retail sector has proved remarkably resilient to
the wider slowdown in the Brazilian economy over the past 10
months, reflecting an increase in spending power of the average
Brazilian amid rising salaries and falling interest rates.
Consumer access to credit continued to expand in June, while
interest rates maintained a downward trend, according to the latest
figures from the Brazilian Central Bank.
Total available credit in Brazil, including government-directed
and non-directed credit rose 1.3% to 1.28 trillion reals ($679
billion) in June, or the equivalent of 43.7% of gross domestic
product. Compared to June 2008, total credit supply in Brazil
expanded 19.7%.
The central bank has embarked on an aggressive rate-cutting
cycle since January in an effort to ward off the impact of the
global economic slowdown on Latin America's largest economy. Last
week, the bank slashed its benchmark Selic base interest rate by 50
basis points to 8.75%, the lowest level since the reference rate's
inception in 1999.
Lower interest rates and a benign inflation outlook will likely
give consumers even greater purchasing power over the remainder of
2009, economists said.
Sales figures in real terms take into account inflation as
measured by the government's official consumer price index, or
IPCA. In June, the IPCA gained 0.36%. The rolling 12-month IPCA
inflation rate through June reached 4.8%, down from the 5.2%
registered in the 12 months through May.
Economists and analysts expect Brazil's inflation to continue to
ease in coming months, ending the year below the government's
official target of 4.5%.
Brazil's largest grocers are Companhia Brasiliera de
Distribuicao (CBD), or CBD, France's Carrefour SA (12017.FR) and
U.S. retail titan Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT). French retailer
Casino Guichard Perrachon SA (12558.FR) owns a 34.3% stake in
CBD.
-By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires; 55-21-2586-6085;
Jeff.Fick@dowjones.com