Japan retail sales suffer first annual fall in a year

TOKYO (Reuters) – Annual Japanese retail sales fell for the first time in a year last month, government data showed on Wednesday, after poor weather including two typhoons kept consumers away from stores and restaurants.

Retail sales declined 0.2 percent compared with the same month last year, hurt by weak sales of food and beverages, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry said.

The result matched the median forecast of economists polled by Reuters. It was the first decline since October last year.

Sales at large-scale retailers – department stores and supermarkets – fell 0.7 percent from a year earlier after adjustment for change in the number of stores.

Consumer spending is in the spotlight after private consumption suffered a rare decline in July-September, even as the economy grew for a seventh straight quarter for its longest expansion in 16 years.

Wednesday’s retail sales report is the first piece of major consumption data for the current quarter, and kicks off a busy slate of October indicators over the coming days.

Also on the consumer spending front, household spending, due on Friday, is expected to have slipped. But the jobless rate is forecast to have held at a 23-year low, and the government hopes the tight labour market will soon lead to higher wages and bolster consumption. To view full tables of the data, go to the website of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry at: http://www.meti.go.jp/english/statistics/tyo/syoudou/index.html

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