Trade movement rises 4.5% in July, says Boa Vista

The Trade Movement Indicator, which tracks the performance of retail sales throughout Brazil, advanced 4.5% in July in the deseasonalized monthly comparison, according to data released by Boa Vista.
In the evaluation accumulated in 12 months, the indicator shows a 3.2% retraction. In the accumulated year, there was a drop of 7.5% compared to the same period last year. In relation to the same month of 2019, retail fell 1.3%.
After the indicator recorded a sharp drop in April, the results of the quarter between May and July recover part of this loss and add up to three consecutive monthly advances, reflecting a slight reaction of the retail with the measures to stimulate entrepreneurs and consumers in the fight against the crisis caused by the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
With the adversities caused by the new coronavirus, with a fall in income and employment, Boa Vista predicts that the trade movement will continue to weaken throughout 2020.
Therefore, despite the increase in the monthly basis, better results should depend on the continued easing of isolation measures and the performance of the main sectors of the activity.
In the monthly analysis, the Furniture and Appliances segment increased 12.8% in July after advancing in May and June, discounting seasonal effects. In the data without seasonal adjustment, the segment slowed its rate of drop in the accumulated analysis in 12 months, recording a variation of -14.0%.
The activity of Supermarkets, Food and Beverages recorded a -0.1% variation in the month in the deseasonalized series. In the series without adjustment, the accumulated variation in 12 months was 2.8% in relation to the previous year.
The category of Fabrics, Garments and Footwear grew 6.1% in the month, discounting the seasonal effects. In the accumulated data of the last 12 months, there was an increase of 5.2%.
Finally, the Fuels and Lubricants segment increased by 0.7% in July considering deseasonalized data, while in the series without adjustment, the accumulated variation was -7.4%.
The Trade Movement indicator is prepared by retailers based on the number of queries to the Boa Vista database.