National retail sales rose 2.7 percent in May from a year earlier to 10.54 trillion yen, logging the third straight monthly increase thanks to surges in petroleum product prices and brisk sales of new vehicles, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Tuesday in a preliminary report.
Hikes in crude oil prices pushed up retail sales of fuel, including gasoline and diesel oil, by 15.7 percent from a year earlier. Vehicle sales, meanwhile, grew 7.5 percent, led by robust sales of new compact cars, a METI official said.
METI kept unchanged its assessment of retail sales as "modestly recovering" with the latest data, after April retail sales registered the sharpest rise in eight years.
Sales by wholesalers increased 3.3 percent to 31.64 trillion yen, up 12 months in a row, on brisk sales of petroleum products and steel, as well as machinery and equipment used to manufacture vehicles and digital consumer electronics, the official said.