After a strong start to the year, the uncertain economic climate continued to impact negatively on merchants’ sales of timber and joinery into October 2019.
Year-on-year
Total builders merchants’ value sales in October were down 4.4% compared with the same period in 2018, on an equal number of trading days. Categories showing a weaker performance year-on-year were tools (-9.2%), timber and joinery (-7.2%), landscaping (-5.4%) and heavy building materials (-4.9%).
The best performing sectors in October were work wear and safety wear (+9%) and kitchens and bathrooms (+4.1%), with plumbing, heating and electrical (+0.3%) also showing marginal growth.
Month-on-month
The picture was more positive month-onmonth. Total October 2019 sales were up by 6% compared with September. Most product categories saw relatively strong growth month-on-month, at least on an unadjusted basis, including timber and joinery (+6.8%) and heavy building materials (+5.7%). However, when adjusted for the two-day trading difference, total builders’ merchants’ sales were down by 3.2%.
Other periods
Sales in the rolling 12 months from November 2018 to October 2019 were up 0.5% on the same period last year.
Index
October’s BMBI index was 126.0, with plumbing, heating and electrical the highest at 141.5. The timber and joinery index for August was 127.4.
