Ottawa | Reuters — Canadian retail sales decreased by 0.4 per cent in December to $70 billion on a monthly basis, led by a drop in sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
Sales were down in three of the nine subsectors with the building materials category and furniture, electronics and appliances retailers category also reporting a drop in sales. Sales at fuel pumps helped offset some of the fall, StatsCan said.
In volume terms, retail sales were unchanged in December.
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WHY IT MATTERS: Retail sales, which include domestic sales of cars, furniture, food and gasoline, are considered an early indicator of gross domestic product growth and contribute around 40 per cent to total consumer spending.
Core retail sales, which exclude gasoline stations and fuel vendors and the motor vehicle and parts dealers, were down 0.3 per cent in December.
The motor vehicles and parts dealers’ category, which accounts for over a fourth of total retail sales, fell by 1.6 per cent to $18.71 billion.
The second biggest contributor to retail sales is the food and beverage retailer category. Sales were unchanged in December in this subsector.
Building materials dropped by four per cent and the furniture and appliances category registered a 1.7 per cent month-on-month drop.
In January, sales were likely up 1.5 per cent but this number is likely to be updated next month, the agency said in a flash estimate.
— Reporting by Promit Mukherjee and Dale Smith
