Japan's retail sales down 2.2% in July, summer clothes sales slump

Japan's retail sales shrank 2.2 percent in July from a year earlier to 11.35 trillion yen for the second straight month of decline, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Thursday.
The contraction was led by slower sales of textiles and clothes, down 9.7 percent, the biggest margin of fall since October 2001 due to slumping sales of summer clothes, the ministry said in a preliminary report. Sales of automobiles sagged 4.8 percent and those of machinery equipment dropped 4.7 percent.
In contrast, fuel sales grew 0.3 percent and sales of items such as cosmetics and pharmaceuticals rose 0.4 percent.
Despite the decline, the ministry left its assessment of retail sales unchanged from the previous month, saying retail sales are "almost flat."
Sales by wholesalers, meanwhile, climbed 6.0 percent to 39.06 trillion yen for the 24th straight month of increase, the report said.
Combined wholesale and retail sales rose 4.1 percent to 50.40 trillion yen, also up for the 24th consecutive month, it said.
Overall sales by large supermarkets and department stores dipped 2.5 percent to 1.86 trillion yen after increasing 1.8 percent in June.
Department store sales contracted 5.7 percent to 790.6 billion yen after a 3.5 percent expansion. Supermarket sales were unchanged at 1.07 trillion yen.
However, convenience store sales rose 2.1 percent to 665.2 billion yen, a turnaround from a 2.0 percent drop in June.
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