Euro zone retail sales fall as expected in Dec

BRUSSELS, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Euro zone retail sales fell roughly in line with expectations in December, underlining the weakness in consumer demand at the end of the year amid high inflation, data from the European Union’s statistics office Eurostat showed.

Eurostat said retail sales in the 19 countries sharing the euro in December fell 2.7% month-on-month for a 2.8% year-on-year decline. Economists polled by Reuters had expected retail sales to fall 2.5% on the month and 2.7% year-on-year.

Volume of retail trade

% change compared with the previous month (calendar and seasonally adjusted)

	Jul 22	Aug 22	Sep 22	Oct 22	Nov 22	Dec 22
Euro area
Total retail trade	-0.2	0.0	0.8	-1.5	1.2	-2.7
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.0	-0.7	0.5	-1.2	-0.5	-2.9
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:	-0.2	0.2	1.3	-1.8	2.0	-2.6
Mail orders and internet	4.1	-4.3	3.0	-1.4	-0.3	-2.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	1.0	1.9	-0.9	0.0	0.5	2.3

Volume of retail trade

% change compared with the same month of the previous year (calendar adjusted)

	Jul 22	Aug 22	Sep 22	Oct 22	Nov 22	Dec 22
Euro area
Total retail trade	-0.7	-1.3	0.1	-2.6	-2.5	-2.8
Food, drinks, tobacco	-1.7	-1.3	-2.0	-3.9	-4.6	-6.9
Non-food products (except automotive fuel), of which:	-0.9	-2.2	0.8	-2.4	-2.0	-0.6
Mail orders and internet	2.1	-5.5	-1.6	-5.1	-7.1	-5.5
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	2.1	4.8	3.7	2.2	3.9	6.0

For Eurostat release, click on:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/news/euro-indicators