Retail sales remained flat in October from September as a NZ$23 million rise in core retail sales was offset by a NZ$21 million fall in vehicle-related sales, figures released by Statistics New Zealand show.

Seasonally adjusted figures show overall sales rose by less than 0.1% over the month. Core retail sales rose 0.5%, led by a 10%, or NZ$32 million jump in cafe and restaurant retailing.

Actual figures show overall retail sales were down 0.2% in October from a year ago, which was better than the 0.5% annual fall in September. Core retail sales were up 2.1% from October 2008, down from a 3.3% rise in September.

Here is the release from Stats NZ:

Seasonally adjusted total retail sales were flat in October 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. This followed a 0.3 percent increase in the previous month. In the latest month, a 0.5 percent ($23 million) increase in core retailing was partly offset by a 1.5 percent ($21 million) decrease in the four vehicle-related industries.

The rise in core retailing included an $11 million increase across the food-related industries. "This was driven by a strong increase in cafes and restaurants," business statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said, "that was only partly offset by decreases in the other food industries".

Other notable movements in core retail were:

• accommodation (up 4.2 percent or $9 million)
• department stores (up 2.2 percent or $7 million)
• clothing and softgoods retailing (down 6.7 percent or $16 million).

The total retail sales trend has been rising since February 2009 (up 1.9 percent), following a 13-month period of decline. However, the rate of increase appears to have eased slightly in the latest months.

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By region, sales were flat in Wellington and Auckland, up in the 'remainder of the North Island' and Canterbury, and slightly down in the 'remainder of the South Island' and Waikato. The trend for the North Island has been rising at an average of 0.3 percent per month since February 2009, while the South Island sales trend has shown little change for the last two years.