The clothing and footwear group experienced a quarterly decrease of 1.1 per cent, primarily due to a drop in prices across garments, footwear, and accessories and clothing services. These declines were attributed to promotional activities related to back to school and New Year sales. However, over the past year, this group has seen a slight rise of 0.4 per cent. Notably, men's garments increased by 2.4 per cent, contributing significantly to the annual growth in this sector.

The tradables sector witnessed a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent this quarter, influenced by a dip in international holiday travel costs. However, when adjusted seasonally, the tradables component of the all groups CPI showed a marginal increase of 0.2 per cent, as per ABS.

Looking at broader inflation measures, the annual trimmed mean inflation rate was reported at 4 per cent, a slight decrease from 4.2 per cent in the previous December 2023 quarter.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DP)