The rush to buy emergency supplies before and after Hurricane Fabian failed to increase retail spending in September over 2002 levels, according to Government figures released yesterday.

Despite almost all sectors on the Island seeing higher levels of spending, the high inflation rate of 3.8 percent knocked back spending in real terms to an overall drop of 1.8 percent, the third straight month that the volume of sales declined compared to 2002.

Before inflation was taken into account, September spending rose 1.7 percent year over year, with residents spending $50.9 million at home and $3.6 million on declared purchases abroad.

“The impact of Hurricane Fabian on consumer spending varied across all sectors of the retail market,” said the Department of Statistics release.

The amount spent in food stores grew by 4.3 percent with purchases of emergency supplies and stocks of non-perishable goods in the aftermath of the hurricane boosting sales for the month.

In the liquor sector, receipts rose ten percent during the month mainly due to the higher prices recorded for alcohol, said the report.

In the service station sector, petrol sales were up 9.1 percent year-over-year, which was attributed primarily to the abnormal rush to “fill up” bikes and cars, buy gas for generators and kerosene oil for household lamps before the arrival of Hurricane Fabian.

Building and hardware suppliers reported increase in sales of 4.1 percent above the levels reached in September 2002.

“In preparation for the hurricane, there was high demand for purchases of specific items such as batteries, flashlights, candles, tarpaulin, nails and plywood,” said the report.

Gross revenue in all other store types rose by 0.8 percent with sales of DVDs and CDs were higher as consumers looked for an alternative form of home entertainment due to the loss of cable television.

This was, however, offset by strong declines in sales of goods from tourist-related stores, which resulted from a drop in visitor arrivals during the month of September.

In the motor vehicle sector, gross receipts rose by 11.6 percent over last September, but dealers said that this was due to poor sales last September.

There was also the replacement of and repairs to cars and bikes damaged during the passage of the hurricane. The only sector that did not see sales increase was in the apparel sector, with the amount of clothes and accessories sold falling dramatically - by 13.4 percent.

“Roughly 80 percent of stores reporting in this sector experienced declining sales as low as one third below the previous year's level. This reflected a major shift in demand towards purchases of other types of consumer goods such as household supplies,” said the report.

Overseas purchases declared to customs was up year-on-year by 0.3 percent at $3.6 million. In August this had risen to $5.52 million - a huge jump of 33.3 percent on the same period a year earlier.