Growth in Retail Sales Slowing
The Australian retail sector is expected to see a further slowing in growth nationally with the AFGC CHEP Retail Index showing growth of 4 per cent year-on-year in the March quarter, slowing to 3 per cent by the June quarter.
Within this broader trend, on a monthly basis the Index predicts Retail Trade Turnover for the month of March to be $24 billion, representing a year-on-year growth of 4.2 per cent for that month. This slightly higher than expected growth for the month was likely due to the Reserve Bank’s February interest rate cut and earlier falls in petrol prices, which helped to support the stronger levels of consumer sentiment in the first few months of 2015.
However, the downward trend remains as we head into May, with turnover to soften to $23.9 billion and year-on-year growth to slow to 3.1 per cent for May.
Australian Food and Grocery Council Deputy Chief Executive, Dr Geoffrey Annison, said,
“The growth in food retailing has eased a little in recent months, and is now slightly below the growth rate for total retail sales. As the Australian economy continues to unwind from the mining boom, a stronger labour market will be needed for strength in retail sales growth to be sustained.”
CHEP Asia-Pacific President, Phillip Austin, said, “These trends indicate why there is considerable activity across all the retailers as they reconfigure their supply chains to optimise for available growth. CHEP’s pooling of reusable supply chain and in-store assets across industry – the original expression of the ‘sharing economy’ model – and the scale efficiencies generated from our network, will play a key role in the transformation of supply chains to meet this growth challenge at the lowest total cost to industry.”
The AFGC CHEP Retail Index is a collaborative project between the AFGC and CHEP Australia, powered by Deloitte. The Index uses CHEP transactional data based on pallet movements and is a lead indicator of ABS Retail Trade data.
The next AFGC CHEP Retail Index will be released in late July 2015.
-ENDS-
More information: James Mathews, AFGC Media Contact 0407 416 002
Dzintra Horder, CHEP Australia Media Contact 0405 711 786
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About AFGC
The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) is Australia’s peak national industry association, representing the $110 billion food, beverage and grocery manufacturing industry. As Australia’s largest manufacturing sector, the food and grocery manufacturing industry is a vital contributor to the wealth and health of our nation. The industry’s products are in more than 24 million meals, consumed by 22 million Australians every day, every week and every year. AFGC’s aim is for the Australian food, beverage and grocery manufacturing industry to be world-class, sustainable, socially-responsible and competing profitably domestically and overseas. AFGC represents one of the few manufacturing sectors that continues to grow and has significant potential for even further growth into the future. For more information, visit www.afgc.org.au
About CHEP
CHEP is a global leader in managed, returnable and reusable packaging solutions, serving many of the world’s largest companies in sectors such as consumer goods, fresh produce, beverage and automotive. CHEP’s service is environmentally sustainable and increases efficiency for customers while reducing operating risk and product damage. CHEP’s 7,500-plus employees and 300 million pallets and containers offer unparalleled coverage and exceptional value, supporting more than 500,000 customer touch-points more than 50 countries. Our customer portfolio includes global companies and brands such as Procter & Gamble, Sysco, Kellogg’s, Kraft, Nestlé, Ford and GM. CHEP is part of Brambles Limited. For more information, visit www.chep.com
About Deloitte
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/au/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms. In Australia, the member firm is the Australian partnership of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. As one of Australia’s leading professional services firms. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu and its affiliates provide audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through approximately 5,000 people across the country. For more information, please visit our web site at www.deloitte.com.au
The information provided in the AFGC/CHEP Index (“the Index”) will be provided collaboratively by CHEP Australia ABN 11 117 266 323, Australian Food and Grocery Council ABN 23 068 732 883 and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu ABN 74 490 121 060 (“the Producers”). The information provided in the Index will be current as at the stated release date and will be provided without taking account of any person’s personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of this readers should, before acting on any information, consider its appropriateness, having regard to their objectives, financial situation or needs. The information in any report may contain material provided directly or indirectly by third parties. The Producers accept no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any such material. Except where contrary to law, the Producers exclude all liability in negligence or otherwise for the information contained with any report. The information in each report will be subject to change without notice and the Producers will be under no obligation to update the information or correct any inaccuracy which may become apparent at a later date or to produce future releases of any report. The forecasts given in reports will be predictive in character and therefore inherently uncertain. Whilst reasonable efforts will be made to ensure that the assumptions and facts on which the forecasts are based are reasonable and correct, the forecasts may be affected by incorrect assumptions, incorrect facts or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. The ultimate outcomes may differ from these forecasts.