Asia Times: Japan retail sales fall 4.3% in March



	April 29, 1999	atimes.com

Japan Economy

Japan retail sales fall 4.3% in March

TOKYO - Overall sales in the retail industry fell 4.3 percent year on year to 12.07 trillion yen ($101.5 billion) in March, amid a prolonged slump in individual consumption, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said in a preliminary monthly report on Tuesday.

The drop marks the 24th straight month of decline.

Local municipalities began issuing shopping vouchers to qualified consumers beginning at the end of January to stimulate consumption, but the effect ''has yet to emerge clearly,'' a MITI official said.

Department store sales decreased 8.0 percent and supermarkets saw overall sales drop 1.8 percent, with sales at existing stores falling 8.2 percent, according to the MITI report on the nation's commercial sales.

Overall sales in the commercial industry, including retail and wholesale businesses, decreased 7.2 percent to 59.05 trillion yen.

''Commercial sales are in a downward trend again, and the outlook for April seems severe,'' the MITI official said.The wholesale industry alone marked a 7.9 percent decline in sales to 46.97 trillion yen, but the rate of year-on-year decrease improved by 0.4 percentage point from February.

(Asia Pulse/Nikkei)

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