Japan's supermarket sales dip for 6th consecutive month in Jan.

Japan's supermarket sales in January dropped 1.2 percent from the previous year, contracting for a sixth consecutive month, the Japan Chain Stores Association said Wednesday. The association blamed the decline partly on cold weather and snow that negatively impacted customer traffic. Cold waves swept a large part of eastern and western Japan in the latter half of the recording month. And heavy snowfalls caused disruptions in train services and cancellation of flights in many parts of the country. Sales at a total of 7,860 stores stood at 1.12 trillion yen ( about 13.95 billion U.S. dollars), according to the association. Food sales, which makes up more than 60 percent of the total, declined 1.6 percent despite a price hike of vegetables.