Spending on cars steady

Spending on vehicles remained stable last month when compared with June this year, but the amount consumers splurged on fuel plummeted $39 million over the same period.

The latest retail card spending figures from Stats NZ show $203m was spent on motor vehicles in July, when adjusted for seasonal effects. This was $800,000, or 0.4 per cent, down from June’s total.

In actual terms, the sector attracted $204m last month, which was down by 7.6 per cent from the $220m spent in July 2021.

The seasonally adjusted value of retail card spending across all industries fell $11m, or 0.2 per cent, between June and July this year.

Fuel recorded the biggest decrease, dropping $39m and 6.1 per cent, while consumables, such as groceries and liquor, was the biggest climber and increased by $52m, or 2.2 per cent.

Ricky Ho, business performance manager at Stats NZ, notes the lower fuel spending contributed to the overall decline across all categories after fuel prices started to decrease during the second half of July.

In actual terms, total retail spending using electronic cards reached $6.2 billion, down $31million, or 0.5 per cent, from July 2021.