Retail trade index

27. Sep 2021
The recent growth in retail sales of groceries and non-alcoholic drinks is declining

The Q2 2021 retail sales figures in three commodity groups are now available. The figures are are divided into the following three main commodity groups: ‘groceries and non-alcoholic drinks’, ‘clothing and footwear’ and ‘furnishings and household equipment’.

The sales value in the ‘groceries and non-alcoholic drinks’ group increased by 3% from Q1 2021 to Q2 2021. The Q1-Q2 increase in 2019 and 2020 was 13% and 11%, respectively. Sales in this group went down by 1.4% from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021. The previous 12-month period (Q2 2019 - Q2 2020) saw a 14.5% increase in sales value. This increase can be attributed to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a period in which the Faroese public spent more time at home than usual.

Prices in the ‘groceries and non-alcoholic drinks’ commodity group increased, on average, by 0.5% from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021. Converted to volume, this period saw a 1.9% drop.

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The retail sales value in the ‘clothing and footwear’ group increased by 12% from Q1 2021 to Q2 2021 and by 21% from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021.

Prices in this group saw an average year-on-year increase of 2.5% in Q2 2021. Converted to volume, this period saw an increase of 18.1%.

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The retails sales value in the ‘furnishings and household equipment’ group dipped 12.7% from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021. Prices in this group have seen an average decrease over the past decade, but from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021, prices increased on average by 1.3%. Converted to volume, this period saw a drop of 13.8%. The volume figure in this group has averaged at 9.7% in the past five years and at 4.3% in the past ten years.

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