Ottawa, Apr. 20 - Higher prices for gasoline and fresh produce offset a sharp drop in new vehicle sales in February, allowing Canadian retailers to eke out a 0.1-percent rise in sales in the month, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Analysts in a Reuters survey had forecast, on average, a drop in February retail sales of 0.1 percent. However, if the auto sector is excluded, sales jumped 1.0 percent in the month, beating estimates of a 0.2-percent gain.
New car sales tumbled 4 percent as consumers backed away from buying larger vehicles like minivans and trucks. But gasoline station sales grew 4.8 percent after prices rose at over twice that rate following a fire at an Ontario refinery.
Supermarkets also got a boost from price hikes. They rang up a 2 percent increase, the biggest in 12 months, after unseasonably cool weather in some U.S. farm regions drove up prices for fresh vegetables and fruit.
In fact, most of the ex-auto gains in retail sales were explained by price hikes, Statscan said. "Once price changes were taken into account, total retail sales actually fell 0.7 percent," Statscan said.