Retail sales in Santa Catarina grew by 6.8% year on year and ended the first quarter of 2022 with higher sales volume. The result was higher than the national average, which for the same period amounted to 1.1%.

Fabrics, apparel and footwear sector increased by 20.3% from March 2021 to March 2022 – Photo: Leo Munkhoz/ND

The numbers appear in the Necat (Núcleo de Estudos de Económicas Catarinense) UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) newsletter released this Friday (10).

The article was prepared based on data from the Monthly Trade Survey conducted by IBGS (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in March 2022.

Compared to the previous month in March, the state registered an increase of 0.1%, below the national result of 0.7%.

Compared to March this year and March 2021, retail sales in Santa Catarina grew significantly by 8.2%, higher than the national result (4.5) and the ninth best result among the states in the country.

Among the ten sectors surveyed, seven showed year-on-year expansion with a focus on: books, newspapers, magazines and stationery (28.4%), textiles, clothing and footwear (20.3%), and automobiles, motorcycles, parts and details (20.3%).

On the other hand, three sectors had a negative balance in the same comparison, namely: furniture and household appliances (-1.3%), hypermarkets and supermarkets (-0.7%) and construction materials (-0.4%).

According to the survey, the state’s building materials manufacturing was in deficit for the fourth consecutive month from December 2021 to March this year. The books, newspapers, magazines and stationery sector recorded the largest expansion in the state and nation in the first quarter.

Breakthrough in Necat projects

A Necat article signed by Fellow Guilherme Ronchi Razzini says that after the country registered a 1.1% retail growth in the first three months of this year, it can be concluded that the sector is still at a low level, with tiny growth compared to the first quarter of 2021.

“This suggests that commercial activity continues to decline in its ability to recover from the effects of changes in consumption patterns and a grim national macroeconomic scenario. Despite the loss of purchasing power and shrinking revenues, the second quarter of 2022 should be a solid performance, better than the first quarter.

Also according to the document, the advance should come from an infusion of resources from the federal government that should fuel consumption, such as waiting for the 13th salary of pensioners and pensioners, withdrawals from the FGTS (Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço) and assistance from Brazil.

On the other hand, according to the author, persistent inflation and rising interest rates should weaken the sector’s optimism. “These are problems that the entire economy is facing and that will destabilize the service sector and industry,” he notes.

In addition, another problem may affect the performance of the sector: the disruption of the production chain due to the conflict in Eastern Europe may lead to a new acceleration in prices and exacerbate the loss of purchasing power of the population.