Rosstat has published the results of the retail trade and public catering for 2020 in the Novosibirsk region. The last month made businessmen happy, but on the whole the year turned out to be a failure.
In total, over the past year, stores in the Novosibirsk region sold goods worth 535.5 billion rubles. This is almost 3% less than a year earlier. The fall began immediately with the introduction of the first pandemic restrictions. Retail finished the first quarter with an increase of almost 4%, and in April sales fell by almost 8%. The most difficult months were April, May and June.
Then the situation began to improve, but in November and December, sales fell again compared to the same months of 2019. Even the traditional growth in December to November, which amounted to 21% in 2020, did not help.
It is obvious, in a word, that the main reason for the decline in demand was the pandemic. The citizens of Novosibirsk were sick more, tried to leave the house less, which means they went shopping less.
The catering was even worse. In total, residents of the region left 28.5 billion rubles in cafes and restaurants, which is more than 20% less than in 2019. For comparison, catering grew by 9.6% in 2019.
The most difficult months here were also April, May and June, when restaurateurs had to be content with only 40% of turnover. At the same time, in public catering (as opposed to retail), the decline began in March (15%). Although the year started very well — January and February allowed catering to increase sales by more than 9% and 14%, respectively.
The most prosperous month (after the start of the pandemic) was September, when demand almost reached last year’s levels. The restaurateurs themselves believe that in this case the restrictions helped them. Many had to give up long-distance travel, and the townspeople spent their vacation money in Novosibirsk.
The fall in key sectors of the consumer market was also caused by the decline in income. Rosstat has not yet published data for the whole year, but for the period from January to September, real incomes in the Novosibirsk region fell by 2%. On average, according to statisticians, during this period, each inhabitant of the region accounted for 29.5 thousand rubles a month (including children and pensioners). As for the average salary, according to Rosstat, it amounted to 39,862 rubles in the Novosibirsk region last year.
The drop in sales occurred against the backdrop of a significant increase in prices for many consumer goods. Thus, buckwheat and sugar rose in price by more than 40%. Canned fish and vegetable oil are not far behind them.
