Australian Toilet Paper Buying Frenzy Spurs Record Retail Sales

(C) Reuters. Australian Toilet Paper Buying Frenzy Spurs Record Retail Sales

(Bloomberg) — Australian retail sales soared by the most on record in March as households embarked on a buying frenzy, led by massive purchases of toilet paper, ahead of an expected lockdown to contain the coronavirus.

Preliminary sales advanced 8.2% last month, exceeding the previous record of 8.1% ahead of the introduction of a consumption tax in 2000, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in a statement in Sydney Wednesday. The figures will be subject to revision ahead of the final monthly estimate on May 6. The ABS is conducting special surveys to provide more timely data during the pandemic.

There was “unprecedented demand in March in the food retailing industry, with strong sales across supermarkets, liquor retailing and other specialized food,” the ABS said. “Additional analysis indicates monthly turnover doubled for products such as toilet and tissue paper, and rice and pasta.”

Australians swamped supermarkets in March to buy up stocks of food and other essentials on a previously unseen scale, forcing some stores to introduce product limits. This is in contrast with large tracts of the nation’s services industry that are currently shut as authorities try to stem the outbreak.

Central bank chief Philip Lowe warned Tuesday that the first half of this year was likely to produce “the biggest contraction in national output and income that we have witnessed since the 1930s.”

The bureau said gains in food and alcohol “were slightly offset by strong falls in industries including cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services, and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing, which were impacted by new social distancing regulations introduced in March.”

(C)2020 Bloomberg L.P.