8501.0 - Retail Trade, Australia, Mar 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/05/2005   
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Correction To ABS Retail Trade Figures

Attn: News Editors, Business Editors
    The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has issued a correction this morning for Retail Trade figures released earlier this month.

    The ABS understands how important these figures are to industry observers and economic commentators and has re-issued the March 2005 publication today to ensure the best possible data set of figures are available. The ABS has advised key users of retail data and urges users to ensure they are using the current figures.

    Additional checking as a response to user concerns discovered an error in the estimation process used to produce the Retail Trade estimates.

    The revisions affect Retail Trade estimates from July 2004 to March 2005.

    The pattern of the trend series remains essentially unchanged. Both the originally published estimates and today's revised estimates show a slowing in the trend figures from June 2004 to October 2004, however the decline is not as severe in the revised estimates. Both the originally published estimates and the revised estimates show a slight pick-up in growth since October 2004.

    These Retail Trade revisions have an affect on National Accounts estimates. These revisions will be reflected in the March quarter 2005 issue of Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (cat. no. 5206.0) released on 1 June 2005.

    The ABS has commissioned an independent review of the data processing of Retail Trade figures and will ensure all recommendations resulting from the review are implemented.

    For more information on the revision, and its impact on National Accounts figures, please refer to pages three and four of today's release of Retail Trade Australia, March 2005 (REISSUE) (cat. no. 8501.0).