Retail ends nine-year growth streakCULPRITS: Factors that affected the slip included falling global crude oil prices, wait-and-see consumer attitudes due to US tariffs and a different Lunar New Year holiday scheduleStaff writer, with CNATaiwan’s retail sales ended a nine-year growth streak last year, slipping 0.2 percent from a year earlier as uncertainty over US tariff policies affected demand for durable goods, data released on Friday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs showed. Last year’s retail sales totaled NT$4.84 trillion (US$153.27 billion), down about NT$9.5 billion, or 0.2 percent, from 2024. A woman looks at a display of lucky cat dolls in Taipei’s Yongkang District on Dec. 29 last year. Retail fuel sales also dropped NT$14.3 billion, or 5.4 percent, last year due to falling international crude oil prices, the ministry said. Excluding sales in the auto and motorcycle sector, overall retail sales rose 1.5 percent year-on-year, Chen said.

Source: Taipei Times January 25, 2026 16:20 UTC