January 30, 2008 | posted by Michael Baxter in High Steet |

Well, there was good news amongst the bad from the CBI yesterday.

In the latest instalment in its distributive trades survey, the CBI said the balance between retailers saying sales were up, minus those saying they were down, during the first two weeks of January, was the lowest since November 2006. In fact, 39 per cent of respondents said year-on-year sales volumes rose in the first half of January, while 34 per cent said they were down; that makes, after allowing for rounding, a balance of plus 4.

But, here is the good news, retailers do see conditions improving next month, with a balance of 10 per cent expecting sales to grow, although this would still be somewhat slower growth than the average for the second half of 2007.

John Longworth, chairman of the CBI’s Distributive Trades Panel, said: “The January sales were a little flat this year, and were weaker than the lacklustre lead-up to Christmas.

“While sales of groceries and household essentials went quite well, shoppers are watching their wallets, and that can be seen in the big drop in sales of big-ticket items like TVs and washing machines.

“However, this survey and recent CBI manufacturing data show that, while market turbulence is undoubtedly affecting consumer confidence, the economy as a whole is nonetheless bearing up and is continuing to grow, if more slowly.

“Overall retail sales were still better than expected this month, and the High Street does predict a slight improvement in February.”