— Japan Feb Retail Sales +3.5% Y/Y; MNI Median Fcast +1.3%
— Japan Feb Retail Sales Post 3rd Y/Y Rise In Row; Jan +1.8%
— Japan Feb Retail Car Sales +21.4% Y/Y; Jan +24.1%
— Japan Feb Retail Fuel Sales +4.8% Y/Y; Jan -0.8%
— Japan Feb Retail Food, Beverage Sales +2.5%; Jan +0.6%

TOKYO (MNI) – Japan’s retail sales surged 3.5% in February,
positing the third straight year-on-year rise on solid demand for
automobiles and leap-year effects, data from the Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry released Thursday showed.

The increase followed +1.8% in January and +2.5% in December and
marked the highest rise since +4.3% in August 2010, beating the median
forecast for a 1.3% rise in a MNI survey of economists.

Retail sales of automobiles rose 21.4% from a year earlier in
February, posting the fifth consecutive y/y rise after rising 24.1% in
January.

Car sales sagged in most of 2011 after the government ended
subsidies for buying low-emission vehicles in September 2010 but they
are now being supported by the resumption of the program in December
last year.

Reflecting higher gasoline and heating oil prices, retail sales of
fuel gained 4.8% on year in February, maintaining a general uptrend
after a rare 0.8% dip in January and a 5.7% rise in December.

Sales of food and beverages jumped 2.5% in February on leap-year
effects, marking the third straight y/y rise after rising 0.6% in
January.

Meanwhile, retail sales of machinery and equipment including
consumer electronics posted a seventh straight on-year drop, down 15.9%
in February after a 12.3% fall in January.

Other details from the latest data:

Commercial sales, or combined sales at the wholesale and retail
levels (y/y): February -0.1%, a fourth straight fall.

Sales at the wholesale level (y/y): February -1.3%, also the four
straight fall.

Large retail store sales on a same-store adjusted basis (y/y):
February +0.2%, the first rise in seven months.

Large retail store sales, unadjusted (y/y): February +1.2%, the
first rise in two months.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** MNI Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **

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