Dutch consumers buy more durable goods

Household spending on goods and services was 0.7 percent higher in January 2011 than in January 2010. Household spending on durable consumer goods increased by 6.3 percent. Clothes, consumer electronics and cars were highly in demand. Consumer spending on food, drinks and tobacco remained stable, whereas spending on services was 0.8 percent up on one year previously. Consumption figures were adjusted for price changes and differences in the shopping-day pattern.

Although spending on durable goods soared, consumption growth remained fairly modest in January. This is mainly due to a considerably lower natural gas consumption, which curbed January’s consumption growth by approximately 1 percentage point.

Household spending has been higher than twelve months previously for almost a year now, but consumption growth remains modest. The Household Consumption Radar shows that - after a gradual improvement in the course of 2010 - conditions for consumption growth have hardly changed in recent months.

Domestic household consumption (volume, adjusted for shopping-days)

More figures can be found in dossier Business cycle.