BY ALL the main measures, consumer prices in June fell on a month earlier, according to figures released by the CSO yesterday. This represented a reversal of the trend observed since the turn of the year, when prices started to rise after more than a year of declines.

The most significant price changes in June were in clothing and footwear, which was down by an average of 1.1 per cent month on month. The decline was attributed to summer sales.

There was also a 0.5 per cent drop in the cost of transport due to lower petrol and diesel prices, while alcoholic beverages and tobacco sales fell 0.3 per cent.

Compared with June 2009, the consumer price index (CPI) was 0.9 per cent lower, while the EU-wide Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which is calculated using a different sample of goods and services, recorded a larger decline of 2 per cent.

According to the CPI measures, the most notable price changes over the year were for clothing and footwear, which were down 11.2 per cent, food and non-alcoholic beverages – down 5.4 per cent and – furnishings, household equipment and maintenance, which fell 4.6 per cent.

During the same period, there were increases in prices for education, utilities and transport. The annual rate of inflation for services rose 0.9 per cent while, goods decreased by 3.1 per cent.

Retails sales growth in May was stagnant, according to the Central Statistics Office. Compared to April, both the value and volume of total sales rose by a marginal 0.1 per cent. A less volatile measure of sales, which excludes the motor trade, registered an identical uptick between April and May in volume terms, but when measured by the value of sales, a 0.4 per cent decline was recorded.

With the exception of the motor trade, which continues to benefit from the Government’s trade-in scheme, most segments either recorded outright declines in sales on April or recorded a deceleration in their rates of growth.

The value of total sales was marginally down on the May last year, while in volume terms they rose by 3.5 per cent. This growth was entirely attributable to motors.

Year on year comparisons mask two very different trends over the past 12 months: between May 2009 and the end of the year, sales fell before recovering in the early months of 2010.