Current Survey of Commerce: Retail Sales Index (seasonally adjusted)

The Current Survey of Commerce is published monthly by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and covers wholesale and retail sales. The Retail Sales Index on this page converts retail sales, including department stores, supermarkets, convenience stores, drugstores, automobiles and fuel, into an index with 2020 set to 100, seasonally adjusted. Because it measures value (nominal), it rises with prices even when volumes are unchanged; comparing it with the Consumer Price Index helps show whether growth comes from volume or price. This index is the revised time series and is updated about half a month after the preliminary release at the end of each month. In the Cabinet Office’s Indexes of Business Conditions, the year-on-year change in retail commercial sales is a coincident series.