Overall business turnover has fallen by 0.1 per cent year-on-year in September 2024, driven by falls in retail, wholesale and mining industries.
The new data, which comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), shows that retail turnover fell by 2.3 per cent year-on-year in September, ahead of a 1.9 per cent fall in wholesale trade and behind an 11.9 per cent fall in mining.
The three industries also recorded falls month-on-month, with retail down 0.8 per cent, wholesale down 1.1 per cent and mining down 1.5 per cent. Professional, scientific and technical services also declined month-on-month by 0.2 per cent.
The graph below shows business turnover in the retail trade division.
Month-on-month, business turnover lifted by just 0.2 per cent, driven by the construction industry, utilities (electricity, gas, water) and media and technologies.
Construction rose 3.7 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms in September, with ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing saying the industry continued to rise over the last three months due to greater activity on major civil and commercial projects.
“The Electricity, gas, water and waste services and Information media and telecommunications industries grew 3.4 per cent. The growth in Information media and telecommunications was driven by continued demand in the Publishing subdivision.”
Rises in these industries were partially offset by falls in four of the 13 industries.
The 13-industry aggregate showed business turnover rising 0.2 per cent in seasonally adjusted terms but falling 0.1 per cent in trend terms.