April retail trade up in Eurozone, down in EU28

Mubasher: Retail trade inched up 0.1% in the Eurozone in March, while it shed 0.1% in the 28-member European Union (EU28) in the same month, both compared to the rates recorded in February.

Retail trade volume saw in February an increase of 0.3% in the Eurozone and 0.4% in the EU28, data by the Eurozone’s statistical office, the Eurostat, showed on Friday.

The month-on-month retail volume increase in the Eurozone for the third month of the year was attributed to the rise of 0.2% for food, drinks and tobacco sales.

Meanwhile, non-food products in the Eurozone fell by 0.5% and automotive fuels by 0.4%.

Compared to February, the retail trade in the EU28 declined in March owing to 1.2% decrease for automotive fuels while non-food products dropped 0.3% with the sales of food, drinks and tobacco remained stable.

As for the highest increases in the total retail sales, Latvia recorded an increase of 2.3%, followed by 1.8% in Portugal and 1.3% in Austria and Sweden.

On the other hand, Ireland, Poland, the UK and Germany logged the highest decreases, at 1.7%, 0.8% 0.7% and 0.6% respectively.

By 10:51 am GMT, the EUR/USD pair shed 0.19% to $1.1965.

Source: Mubasher