In the first quarter of this year, there was a 4% drop in consumption in supermarkets and self-service stores in Uruguay. Thus, the 3% decrease observed in the January-March quarter was accentuated, according to a survey by Radar Scanntech, a company unit dedicated to the distribution of devices to make purchases and sales throughout the country.
On the other hand, the billing of these businesses grew 4% in the interannual comparison in January-April. The sample took 1,500 points of sale throughout the country.
sharp drop in april
April closed with a sharp drop in sales volume (-7%) and a high increase in the average price (+13.5%). The variations in the different areas of the country show a generalized fall so far this year, with negative values in all the regions, according to Scanntech.
Radar scanntech
On the other hand, depending on the format of the business (depending on the number of boxes), the value of the average ticket is detailed. In stores with more than 4 boxes, the average ticket amounts to $415 in April (+7%), while in the smaller ones it was $244 (+6%).
Meanwhile, analyzing the situation by family of products, in the first four months of the year falls are observed in all cases. Personal care and cleaning are the ones that show the most negative values, with falls of 7.9% and 5.2%, respectively. The prices of the personal care category increased 16.4% in the last month, 15.1% in the case of food, 10.9% in beverages and 4.7% in cleaning.
Radar scanntech
Inflation stabilized in April after accelerating for four consecutive months. In the 12 months to April, the rate of price increases stood at 9.37%, practically the same record for the moving year ending in March (9.38%), according to the INE.
Meager trade growth in quarter
According to the latest Activity Survey of the corresponding Commerce and Services sector, during the first trimester the activity of the sector once again went through a phase of growth, representing the third year-on-year increase after the nine consecutive falls observed since the second quarter of 2019, exacerbated during the pandemic.
However, the growth record of global sales of the sector at the beginning of the year showed a slowdown compared to the end of 2021. Specifically, sales grew 1.7% year-on-year in real terms during the first quarter of the year, when in the previous period (October-December) they had done so by 5.4%.
The diffusion index by items (percentage of items with positive variations of real sales) denoted a significant drop in the first quarter and stood at 53%. With regard to the diffusion index by companies, it also fell significantly, going from 62% in the previous quarter to 31% this time. Regarding the diffusion index by items, several of the sectors that had shown growth in the previous quarter fell this time, being the case of opticians, mini-markets and personal care, among others.
