Inflation effect: sales of retail goods and food drop in August

Listen to the audio version of the article

To August a decline from the previous month is estimated for retail sales (-0.4% in value and -1.1% in volume). This is what Istat reports. Sales of non-food goods are down (-0.3% and -0.9%), and those of food goods (-0.5% and -1.4%).

In the annual comparison, they increase by 4.3% in value and decrease by 2.1% in volume. Sales of non-food goods grow in value (+ 2.2%) while they decrease in volume (-1.0%). Sales of food products also recorded an increase in value and a decrease in volume (respectively + 6.8% and -3.5%).

The growth ofinflation it therefore begins to have visible effects on the behavior of families.

Assoutenti points out how skyrocketing bills are leading Italians to cut primary expenses such as food, therefore putting less and less food on the table. Codacons appeals to the new government to cut VAT on food and all basic necessities. Lastly, the National Consumers Union stresses that not even the summer season, with workers on vacation and many tourists in the area, has been used to give a boost to “bad” data.

The Istat surveys are also considered worrying by companies. Federdistribuzione underlines that – due to the uncertainty about the general economic situation – a further shadow is cast on the resilience of consumption in the last quarter of 2022. And for Confesercenti there is a need for an immediate cut in energy tariffs “if we want to avoid a free fall in consumption in autumn ». Processes that risk making the path of the new government increasingly bumpy since the first days of its entry into action.