MEDIA RELEASE
07 May 2012	Embargoed: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	63/2012

Retail turnover rises 0.9% in March 2012

The latest ABS Retail Trade figures show that Australian retail turnover rose 0.9% in March 2012, seasonally adjusted, following a rise of 0.3% in February 2012.

The largest contributor to the rise was Food retailing (0.9%), followed by Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (2.0%), Clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (1.6%), Other retailing (0.5%), Household goods retailing (0.4%) and Department stores (0.7%).

The state which was the largest contributor to the rise was New South Wales (1.2%), followed by Victoria (1.3%), Western Australia (1.2%), South Australia (0.6%), Queensland (0.2%), the Australian Capital Territory (1.5%), Tasmania (0.5%) and the Northern Territory (0.4%).

In trend terms, turnover rose 0.3% in March 2012. This follows a rise of 0.3% in February 2012 and a rise of 0.2% in January 2012.

In volume terms, turnover rose 1.8% in the March quarter 2012, seasonally adjusted, following a rise of 0.5% in the December quarter 2011

More detailed industry analysis and further information on the statistical methodology is available in Retail Trade, Australia (cat no. 8501.0).


Media note:

• Please ensure when reporting on ABS data that you attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
• For a detailed definition of each industry group and subgroup in terms of its ANZSIC 2006 classes, please refer to paragraph 6 of the Explanatory Notes.