Retail Trade Down Across Europe

In April compared with March 2012 retail trade fell across Europe by 1% in the euro area and by 1.1% in the EU27. When compared with April 2011 retail trade fell by 2.5% in the euro area and by 1.9% in the EU27. The food sector fell by 2.3% in the euro area and by 2.4% in the EU27 and the non-food sector fell by 2.1% and 0.7% respectively. The volume of retail trade fell in twelve of the Member States and grew in nine. The largest decreases were in Spain (-9.6%), Portugal (-9.3%) and Malta (-4.6%) and the greatest increases were in Estonia (8.5%), Latvia (7.8%) and Romania 3.4%).