The country’s retail sales volume grew by 0.6% in November 2021, compared to October, reported this Friday (14) the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
The performance was above financial market expectations. Analysts consulted by the Bloomberg agency had expected stagnation (0%) in sales.
Even with the advance in general, there were declines in more than half of the activities surveyed in the period.
According to the IBGE, the rise was driven by the growth of hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco. The institute also claims that in 2021, Black Friday had a smaller effect on sales for the month.
Compared to November 2020, retail fell by 4.2%, indicated the IBGE. In this cut, the forecast of analysts was a retraction of 5.7%.
In the accumulated of 2021, the trade registered an increase of 1.9% until November. In a longer period of 12 months, there was also growth of 1.9%.
Advance pulled by hypermarkets and supermarkets
According to the IBGE, five of the eight activities had negative rates in November, compared to October.
There were decreases in furniture and household appliances (-2.3%), textiles, apparel and footwear (-1.9%), fuels and lubricants (-1.4%), books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (-1.4 %) and equipment and supplies for office, IT and communication (-0.1%).
On the other hand, with growth of 0.9%, the branch of hypermarkets, supermarkets, food products, beverages and tobacco pulled the positive performance of retail in the month.
Pharmaceutical, medical, orthopedic, perfumery and cosmetics items also increased (1.2%) and other articles for personal and domestic use (2.2%).
After the initial impacts of the pandemic, retail began to bet on reducing restrictions on activities and on reopening stores to recover.
The recovery, however, has been threatened by the scenario of escalating inflation, higher interest rates and weakened income. The factors together affect the purchasing power of the population.
In the midst of this context, Brazilian retail had a Black Friday that was considered lukewarm in November.
In large cities, for example, there were no records of so many crowds in stores, scenes that were repeated in previous years. The online search for products on sale also did not cause euphoria among analysts and entities on the date.
“What we saw was a much less intense Black Friday, in terms of sales volume, than in 2020, when this period of promotions was better, especially for the largest retail chains”, analyzes Cristiano Santos, research manager for the IBGE
“This is due, in part, to inflation, but also to a change in the consumption profile, since some purchases were made in October or even in the first semester, when there was greater availability of credit and the phenomenon of discounts. in a way Black Friday for some chains.”
In November, a report by leaf showed that the event skidded in sales of products such as home appliances, and food orders quintupled compared to 2019.
Inflation gained strength in the country with the pressure of items such as fuel and electricity. In the 12-month period of 2021, the IPCA (National Broad Consumer Price Index) increased by 10.06%, according to the IBGE. It is the highest increase for the period from January to December since 2015.
The income of Brazilian workers has not escaped inflationary pressure. A sign of this is that, in the quarter ended in October 2021, the average income from work fell again and reached, in real terms, the lowest level in almost ten years, according to the IBGE.
To try to curb inflation, the BC (Central Bank) has been raising the basic interest rate. The Selic is at 9.25% per year and should end 2022 at 11.75%, according to financial market estimates. The projection is part of the most recent edition of the weekly newsletter Focus, published by BC.
Before releasing retail performance, IBGE presented two other sectoral indicators for November 2021: industrial production and volume of services.
Factory production dropped 0.2%, confirming the sixth consecutive low. The services sector, on the other hand, had a high of 2.4%, after two consecutive declines.
.
I have over 8 years of experience in the news industry. I have worked for various news websites and have also written for a few news agencies. I mostly cover healthcare news, but I am also interested in other topics such as politics, business, and entertainment. In my free time, I enjoy writing fiction and spending time with my family and friends.
