Two thirds of shopkeepers say this July was worse than 2009

PALMA
NEARLY 7 out of 10 (66 percent) of Majorca's clothes, shoewear and accessories businesses believed that sales in July this year were worse than during the same month in 2009, a monthly report by small to medium-sized business association - Pimeco - claimed yesterday.

Surveys showed that assessments about July sales worsened in outlying areas of the island where 72 percent of shopkeepers considered that trade was poorer last month than it was in July 2009.

The same poll revealed that only 4 percent of traders on Majorca, as much in Palma as elsewhere on the island, thought that takings were better in July this year than they were in 2009.

Three of every ten (30 percent) said that trade had been roughly the same. The percentage of interviewees in Palma who held this view rose to 36 percent whilst it declined in outlying areas to 24 percent.

The overall assessment of small to medium-sized business activity in July (sales combined with client numbers ratio) was therefore registered in the Pimeco report as having deteriorated by -7.55 percent on Majorca in comparison with the same month in 2009. The decline was less marked in Palma (-7.41 percent) than it was in outlying areas where business was seen to have slipped by -7.69 percent last month.

On the scale of 1 to 10 index rating, Majorca fell by 4 decimal points to 4.9 last month from 5.3 in July 2009; down to 5 in Palma (from 5.4 in 2009) and to 4.8 in outlying areas (from 5.2 in 2009).

However, in comparison with June this year, trade assessment for July rose by 3 decimal points on Majorca to 4.9, whereas it had been 4.6 the previous month. With this result the rating for July stood at 2 decimal points above the average for the last 12 months (4.7).

Pimeco said that the results for July show that there is as yet no significant change in consumer habits related to clothes, shoes and accessories, but said that the Sales period which began in July had helped boost trade figures for that month. A spokesman said that despite price reductions, consumer spending is still very much hampered by the effects of the economic crisis.