Spending at Japan's shops rises in Oct as economy reopens, outlook murky
25/11/2021 08:47
TOKYO, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Sales at Japan's supermarket and
department stores rose in October as the end to coronavirus
curbs lifted consumption, industry data showed on Thursday, but
the modest rebound suggested a full recovery will take time.
Sales at Japanese department stores rose 2.9% in October
from a year earlier thanks to robust demand for jewellery and
women's clothing, according to data from the Japan Department
Stores Association.
Those at chain stores, which include supermarkets such as
Aeon 8267.T and furniture stores such as Nitori Holdings
9843.T , grew 3.7% in October from a year earlier, data from
the Japan Chain Stores Association showed.
While the data points to a pick-up in spending, it casts
doubt on how quickly the world's third largest economy can
bounce back from the pandemic doldrums in the fourth quarter,
after state of emergency curbs were lifted on Sept. 30.
Analysts said a full-fledged recovery in sectors hard hit by
the pandemic such as services will likely take time.
"Consumption is coming back, but not as a V-shape recovery
from the lows of the state of emergency," said Yutaro Suzuki,
economist at Daiwa Institute of Research. "The pace of recovery
is gradual."
A separate survey from the Japan Foodservice Association
showed sales at pubs, fast food and family restaurants fell 0.5%
in October from a year ago.
That was much better than a sharp 8.2% year-on-year drop in
September, the data showed, suggesting conditions largely
stabilised in October.
"Restrictions had been lifted further by November so
(spending) is likely to improve," said Taro Saito, executive
research fellow at NLI Research Institute.
Consumers were likely becoming less hesitant to go out after
Japan saw a sharp decline in COVID-19 cases, Saito said.
The data comes as Japan's government raised its view on
consumption for the first time in 13 months earlier on stronger
service spending. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nT9N2H002O
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Kantaro Komiya; Editing by
Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
((daniel.leussink@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@danielleussink;))