Volume of retail trade up by 0.6 percent in both euro area and EU27

Newsroom 05/07/2012 | 14:12

In May 2012 compared with April 2012, the volume of retail trade rose by 0.6 percent in both the euro area (EA17) and the EU27, according to Eurostat. The previous month retail trade fell by 1.4 percent in both zones. Compared to May 2011, the retail sales index dropped by 1.7 percent last month in the euro area and by 0.3 percent in the EU27.

In May 2012, compared with May 2011 total retail trade rose in twelve and fell in nine. The highest increases were observed in Estonia (+10.4 percent), Latvia (+7.4 percent) and Romania (+5.9 percent) and the largest decreases in Malta(-7.3 percent), Portugal (-5.1 percent) and Spain(-4.8 percent).

In May 2012, compared with April 2012, total retail trade rose in sixteen, remained unchanged in Denmark and fell in four. The highest increases were registered in Austria(+3.1 percent), Portugal (+2.9 percent), Latvia (+2.1 percent), Finland (+1.9 percent) and Ireland (+1.7 percent). The decreases were observed in Poland (-1.3 percent), Slovenia (-1.0 percent), Bulgaria and Germany (both -0.3 percent).