8501.0 - Retail Trade, Australia, May 2009  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 01/07/2009   
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Note 24/07/2009: The June 2009 issue of Retail Trade, Australia (cat. no. 8501.0) will be delayed from Monday 3 August 2009 to Tuesday 4 August to avoid the release occurring on the NSW Bank Holiday.
The Information Paper: ANZSIC 2006 Implementation in Retail Trade Statistics, July 2009 (cat. no. 8501.0.55.006) will continue to be released on Monday 3 August.

MAY KEY FIGURES

May 09
Apr 09 to May 09
$m
% change
Turnover at current prices
Trend estimates
na
na
Seasonally adjusted estimates
19 549.8
1.0
na not available

Monthly Turnover, Seasonally adjusted - % change
Graph: Monthly turnover_current prices_seasonally adjusted_% change



MAY KEY POINTS


SUSPENSION OF TREND ESTIMATES
  • The retail trade trend series have been suspended as at November 2008 as it is not possible to determine the trend in retail turnover through the period affected by the Government's stimulus packages and other influences associated with global economic conditions. For further details refer to the December 2008 issue of this publication.


AUSTRALIA
  • The seasonally adjusted estimate increased by 1.0% in May 2009. This follows increases of 0.3% in April 2009 and 2.2% in March 2009.
  • In original terms, Australian turnover increased by 2.4% in May 2009 compared with April 2009. Chains and other large retailers (which are completely enumerated) increased by 2.5%, while the estimate for 'smaller' retailers increased by 2.3%. Australian turnover increased by 6.0% in May 2009 compared with May 2008. Chains and other large retailers increased by 9.2%, while the estimate for 'smaller' retailers increased by 0.7%.


INDUSTRIES
  • All industries, except Household good retailing (-2.0%), had an increase in seasonally adjusted terms in May 2009. Industries with the largest increases were Department stores (+5.5%), Clothing and soft good retailing (+2.9%) and Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (+1.4%).


STATES
  • The following states had an increase in seasonally adjusted terms in May 2009 - Victoria (+0.7%), Queensland (+1.5%), South Australia (+1.8%), Western Australia (+3.5%) and the Australian Capital Territory (+1.8%). Both New South Wales and the Northern Territory were virtually unchanged and Tasmania had a decline of 0.1%.


NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE Release Date
June 2009 3 August 2009
July 2009 9 September 2009
August 2009 30 September 2009
September 2009 4 November 2009
October 2009 3 December 2009
November 2009 7 January 2010



INTRODUCTION OF REVISED INDUSTRY CLASSIFICATION

The ABS will implement a revised industry classification, the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006, into the Retail Trade series from the July 2009 issue. To enable the series to be compiled and validated according to the new classification, the July issue will be released on 9 September 2009, about one week later than normal. Subsequent issues will be released at the normal time. An information paper describing the major changes to Retail trade under ANZSIC 2006 and how historical series will be maintained will be released on 3 August 2009, the same day as the June release of the Retail Trade publication. The information paper will include mock-ups of the the proposed publication and related spreadsheets.


POSSIBLE REVISIONS TO ESTIMATES FOR APRIL AND MAY 2009

As part of our regular quality assurance program, the ABS is investigating a discrepancy with the survey frame used for the April and May 2009 Retail trade estimates. Subject to further analysis, it is likely that with the June issue of this publication the level of Australian turnover for April and May 2009 will be revised slightly upwards but earlier months will not change. The revision to these two months should not change the movement between April and May 2009 significantly, but the movement between March and April 2009 will be revised upwards. The impact of the revision may vary across lower level estimates.


CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

There are no changes in this issue.


TIME SERIES DATA

Data available from the Downloads tab of this issue on the ABS website include longer time series of tables in this publication, quarterly chain volume measures and the following additional current price monthly series:
  • Retail turnover by state and 15 industry subgroups in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sector, by six industry groups in original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated and sample sector, by state in original terms
  • Retail turnover completely enumerated sector, total level in trend, seasonally adjusted and original terms.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Neil Hamilton on Canberra (02) 6252 5990.