— Japan March Retail Sales -8.5% Y/Y Vs Feb +0.1%
— Japan March Retail Sales MNI Poll Median Forecast -6.0%
— Japan March Retail Sales Post 1st Y/Y Fall in 3 Months
— Japan March Retail Auto Sales -32.8% Y/Y Vs Feb Rev -16.7%
— Japan March Retail Machinery Sales -17.3% Y/Y Vs Feb Rev -4.5%
— Japan March Retail Fuel Sales +5.1% Y/Y Vs Feb Rev +7.2%
— Japan FY2010 Retail Sales +0.8% Vs FY2009 -0.4%

TOKYO (MNI) – Japanese retail sales marked the first year-on-year
fall in three months as the March 11 earthquake disaster dampened sales
at major retailers, data from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry released on Wednesday showed.

Retail sales plunged 8.5% last month from a year earlier, the
second largest drop on record after -14.3% in March 1998, which was in
payback for rush purchases in March 1997 ahead of the sales tax hike in
April that year.

Sales gained only 0.1% in each of February and January this year
following a 2.1% drop in December last year. The March drop was the
third in the past 12 months.

The March figure came in much weaker than the median forecast for a
6.0% drop in a Market News International survey of economists.

For a few weeks after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit
Japan’s northeastern Pacific coast, consumers across the nation reduced
spending out of respect for the victims. Power outages and fears of
spreading nuclear radiation leaks also made people cautious about
spending in general.

In the latest retail sales data, automobile sales tumbled a record
32.8% year-on-year in March, the sixth consecutive y/y fall (a revised
-16.7% in February, -19.4% in January, -24.3% in December, -26.6% in
November and -23.9% in October).

According to the latest data from the Japan Automobile Dealers
Association, new vehicle sales in Japan fell at the fastest pace in
nearly 37 years in March as the March 11 earthquake wrecked production
facilities, distribution networks and power plants in northeastern
Japan.

New vehicle sales tumbled 37.0% from a year earlier to 279,389 last
month, the second largest on record, matching the decline in February
1974, and it was the largest slump for the month of March, the industry
group has said.

Sales of machinery and equipment including consumer electronics
declined 17.3%, marking the fourth consecutive y/y drop, after a revised
4.5% fall in February.

Meanwhile, fuel sales rose 5.1% from a year earlier in March,
marking the 16th consecutive y/y rise, on rising gasoline and heating
oil prices. But the pace of y/y gains slowed from a revised 7.2% rise in
February.

In the whole of fiscal 2010, retail sales rose 0.8%, the first rise
in three years, following declines of 0.4% in fiscal 2009 and 1.1% in
fiscal 2008.

Other details from the latest data:

Commercial sales, or combined sales at the wholesale and retail
levels (y/y): March -1.9%, the first fall in 13 months, following a
revised +5.3% in February.

Sales at the wholesale level (y/y): March + 0.5%, the eighth
consecutive y/y rise after a revised +7.2% in February.

Large retail store sales on a same-store adjusted basis (y/y):
March -7.7%, the first fall in two months, after +0.5% in February.

Large retail store sales, unadjusted (y/y): March -6.7%, also the
first fall in two months, following +1.0% in February.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **

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