According to data recorded by the INE, Canarian retail trade continues during the second quarter of 2024 registering positive results in the Retail Trade Index (ICM) at constant prices, being 4% better than that of 2023.
The increase occurred in all months of the quarter, but especially in April, which improved by 5.4% the index from a year ago, while in May the increase was 4.7% and the lowest 1.9% in June. At the national level, the quarterly average of the ICM registered an annual increase 3.5 points lower than the Canarian one (0.5%).
Also the results of the Sectoral Bulletin of the Chamber of Commerce of Tenerife corresponding to the second quarter of 2024 are positive. A quarterly balance that once again highlights, as it did in the previous bulletin, the "good state" enjoyed by the sector.
"This new quarterly balance once again highlights the good health enjoyed by the commercial sector in the Islands, even exceeding the data of the national average with a 3% growth in this quarter and 4.2% in the first half of the year, the highest in the country," he said.
This is a growth associated with the good results that tourism continues to show in these first months of the year. "The boost of tourism in the rest of the sectors is being crucial, a fact that is confirmed in the results we see in retail sales," González Cuenca pointed out.
A good harmony that directly affects the generation of employment, in this case the number of people affiliated to Social Security as of June 30 was 164,075, 4,278 more than a year ago. Regarding the number of unemployed registered in employment offices at the end of the semester, there were 26,666 registered unemployed belonging to the commercial sector, 1,722 less than a year ago.
Many neighborhood businesses disappear
In this sense, the vice president of the chamber highlighted that "the strength of commerce is evident", but that the disappearance of neighborhood businesses is especially worrying. "While it is true that employment associated with commerce is growing, we cannot ignore that the business fabric is suffering in the Islands," she detailed.
In the last year, 193 businesses have already disappeared, of which 125 were retail businesses, 39 were dedicated to the sale and repair of motor vehicles, and 29 were wholesale businesses. A new annual decrease that places the number of businesses in the Canary Islands with workers in their charge at 13,602, a figure that is even below the worst record of companies for the sector that occurred in June 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, when the number of companies was 13,671.
A trend influenced by factors such as generational change or the strength of digital commerce, with increasing penetration in purchases made from the Islands. "It is evident that digital commerce has an impact on the local business fabric by experiencing strong growth since the pandemic and it is necessary to review the current conditions. We are committed to paying the IGIC at the origin, as the Canarian executive is proposing and studying, because in this way the tax burden is the same for everyone," she specified.
