F&B sales back in the doldrums

It slipped to negative growth territory again this February with renewed weakness from restaurant receipts.

Restaurant sales contracted 1.7% from month-ago levels, with Other Eating Places (-1.4%) and Fast Food Outlets (-0.4%) contributing to the overall slide.

Food caterers, though, were the surprise performer this month, growing in sales at a faster 3.1% clip from January's 0.2%, according to new data from Statistics Singapore.

Here's more from Statistics Singapore:

Month-on-Month Change (Seasonally Adjusted)
After seasonal adjustment, restaurants recorded a 1.0% decrease in receipts in January 2012 over December 2011 (Table 2). Receipts of fast food outlets and other eating places (such as cafes and canteens) declined marginally by 0.6% and 0.2% compared to the previous month. On the other hand, turnover of food caterers increased 3.2% over the same period.

Year-on-Year Change
All major segments reported higher turnover in January 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. Turnover of restaurants, food caterers and fast food outlets went up between 15.7% and 18.2%. Other eating places also reported a rise of 1.8% in receipts in January 2012 over January 2011