Card transactions rise 0.4% in September as more spent on fuel, food, liquor

The value of electronic card transactions rose 0.4% in seasonally adjusted terms in September from August as consumers spent more on fuel and consumables such as food, liquor and chemist products, figures released by Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) show. The value of transactions in the core retail industry, which excludes fuel retailing, also rose 0.4% over the month, while broader retail was up 0.7%. Unadjusted figures show the total value of transactions rose 1.6% in September from the same month a year ago, while core retail transactions were up 3.2% from September 2008. Growth in the September months for the last three years ranged from 0.6% in 2008, 0.9% in 2007 and minus 0.1% in September 2006. The figures suggest retail spending is recovering from its trough of earlier in the year, but the speed of the recovery reinforces some economists' fears the economy will struggle to rebound quickly. The proportion of transactions that were made with credit cards rose slightly in September from August, to 43.6% from 43.2%. In September 2008 the credit card proportion was 45.9%. The average transaction value remained at its low of NZ$51 in September, down from NZ$54 a year ago. Here is the release from Stats NZ:

After adjusting for seasonal effects, the total value of electronic card transactions increased 0.4 percent in September 2009 compared with August 2009, Statistics New Zealand said today. The industries contributing the most to this increase were automotive fuel retailing, consumables (includes food, liquor, and chemist retailing), and services (includes personal and household services, including hire and repair). The value of transactions in the retail industries rose 0.7 percent in September 2009, with automotive fuel retailing the biggest contributor. Core retailing (which excludes the motor vehicle-related industries) saw a smaller increase of 0.4 percent, with contributions from the consumables and services industries. Trends for the value of transactions in the total, retail, and core retail series have all been increasing since January 2009. The trend in total transactions has been rising at an average monthly rate of 0.4 percent since then, while core retail has risen at an average of 0.3 percent. For the retail series, latest figures indicate the trend may have picked up in the last two months.