Japan's supermarket sales fall for 5th straight month in April

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TOKYO, May 22 Kyodo -
Japan's supermarket sales in April fell 3.7 percent from a year earlier on a
same-store basis for the fifth consecutive monthly fall, an industry body said
Friday.
Sales totaled 1.07 trillion yen at 8,089 outlets operated by 70 companies,
according to the Japan Chain Stores Association.
As consumers increasingly limit spending, the number of goods and the amount of
money spent per shopper decreased in the reporting month.
''Consumers buy only necessary goods,'' an official at the association said.
Three main product categories -- food, clothing and household products -- all
registered lower sales than the year before, the association said.
Sales of clothing declined 11.7 percent for the 40th consecutive month of decline.
Sales of food dropped 1.6 percent for the third straight month of fall and
those of housing products including medicines, cosmetics, furniture and
electric appliances fell 4.7 percent.
As a result of the spreading new-influenza infection in Japan, sales of such
goods as masks, disinfectants, canned foods and cup-type noodles were rising in
May, according to the association.
Users of ''Net supermarkets'' to place orders on the Internet without going out
were also increasing mainly in the Kansai region, it said.
==Kyodo