World Cup kicks shopping to sidelines

The World Cup took the shine off shopping this summer, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office today.

The returns showed that the football coincided with a drop of more than 1% in retail activity compared with the previous month and a 0.5% decrease on sales in June 2001.

A rise had been anticipated on year-on-year business after increases in May and April.

The CSO said the unexpected decline could be partly attributed to the effect of the World Cup on shopping routines, with fans preferring to watch the big matches on TV rather than visiting the shops.

On a three month basis – which provides a more stable indication of underlying trends – the April to June 2002 volume figures indicated a 1% decrease compared with the previous quarter.

Car sales slumped 7% from the opening three months of the year, while sales of hardware and electrical goods declined by 3.7% and 3.3%, respectively.

:: Other figures from the CSO today pointed to a sluggish growth among Irish industries in June.

Production in June was 4.1% higher than in May, but down from the 8.8% growth seen the previous month.

The figures were released just days after the CSO admitted to a gaffe that saw it send June 2001 industrial production figures to European Union statistics office Eurostat, instead of 2002 data.

The error has since been corrected – the erroneous figures had Ireland recording the biggest output drop in the EU during the month.

On a year-on-year basis in June, output of the production industries was up 13.4%, down from the 24.1% increase seen in May.