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TOKYO (MNI) – Combined sales at Japanese department stores in
August are forecast to have fallen from a year earlier, with the pace of
decline accelerating from -0.1% in July, a Market News International
survey showed.

The Japan Department Stores Association will release August data at
1430 JST (0530 GMT) on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

In July, sales showed the first y/y drop in two months, following
+0.3% in June, -2.4% in May, -1.5% in April and -14.7% in March.

Three out of the seven department store chains surveyed reported
year-on-year gains in their August sales, while three said their sales
fell and one said unchanged. This is a slight deterioration from
increases at four groups and decreases at three in July.

Spokesmen at the surveyed chains attributed the weak August sales
to a calender factor — August this year had one less Sunday compared
with a year before.

The MNI survey also showed that combined department store sales
appeared to show a year-on-year fall in the first half of September due
mainly to the dampening effects of a killer typhoon, that caused
flooding and landslides across Japan and killed at least 66 people in
western regions.

Four out of six department stores reported year-on-year falls in
sales between Sept. 1 and Sept. 14, while one said sales rose and the
other one said there was no change.

Consumers shied away from buying autumn clothing amid unseasonably
high temperatures in the first half of the month, when many regions in
Japan were also pounded by the massive typhoon for a few days, spokesmen
said.

In the first half of September, sales at Takashimaya fell around 8%
y/y in western parts of Japan, compared with a 1% drop seen in the east,
according to its spokesman.

But excluding weather factors, demand remains solid, as seen in
continued gains in sales of jewelry and other luxury items, despite
signs of falling consumer sentiment amid the yen’s rise to record levels
and slumping share prices, some spokesmen said.

A spokesman at Keio said demand for gold accessories is rising in
step with higher gold prices.

Sales of luxury items including jewelry accounted for 4% to 5% of
department store sales in recent months.

skodama@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4838 **

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