Taiwan Commercial Sales Fall More Than Expected In July

(RTTNews) - Taiwan's commercial sales declined for the fifth straight month in July at a faster-than-expected pace, figures from the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed Monday.

Sales of trade and food services dipped 4.42 percent year-over-year in July, which was faster than economists' expectations for a 2.7 percent decrease. In June, sales fell 3.0 percent.

Wholesale trade dropped at a faster pace of 5.73 percent in July from a year ago, following a 4.45 percent fall registered in June.

Retail trade fell 1.87 percent annually in July, reversing a 0.38 percent rise in the previous month, while sales growth of food and beverage services quickened to 2.91 percent from 0.87 percent.

On a monthly basis, commercial sales declined 0.6 percent in July, following the 2.5 percent growth in the previous month. On a seasonally adjusted basis, sales fell 1.5 percent in July.