Volume of retail trade in August stable in both euro area and EU28
In August 2015 compared with July 2015, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade remained stable in both the Euro Area (EA19) and the EU28, according to estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In July retail trade rose by 0.6% and 0.4% respectively
In August 2015 compared with August 2014 the retail sales index increased by 2.3% in the Euro Area, and by 2.6% in the EU28.
The stable volume of retail trade in the Euro Area in August 2015, compared with July 2015, is due to rises of 1.8 % for automotive fuel and of 0.8 % for “Food, drinks and tobacco”, while non-food products fell by 0.3%. In the EU28, the stable volume of retail trade is due to rises of 1.4 % for automotive fuel and of 0.5 % for “Food, drinks and tobacco”, while non-food products fell by 0.2 %.
Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in total retail trade were registered in Portugal (+1.5 %), Ireland (+0.9 %) and Poland (+0.8 %), while the largest decreases were observed in Luxembourg (-1.5 %), Sweden (-1.2 %), Estonia and Finland (both -1.1 %).
The 2.3 % increase in the volume of retail trade in the Euro Area in August 2015, compared with August 2014, is due to rises of 3.6 % for automotive fuel, of 2.5 % for “Food, drinks and tobacco” and of 2.0 % for non-food products. In the EU28, the 2.6 % increase in retail trade volume is due to rises of 3.3 % for automotive fuel, of 2.7 % for non-food products and of 2.5 % for “Food, drinks and tobacco”.
Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in total retail trade were observed in Romania (+8.5 %), Ireland (+7.7 %), Poland (+5.7 %), Estonia and Latvia (both +5.5 %), Lithuania (+5.4 %) and Malta (+5.3 %), while decreases were observed in Luxembourg (-12.6 %), Bulgaria (-1.9 %), Belgium (-1.7 %), Finland (-0.7 %) and Austria (-0.2 %).
The Euro Area (EA19) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The European Union (EU28) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The index of the volume of retail trade measures the evolution of the turnover in retail trade, adjusted for price changes (deflated), i.e. the evolution of the total amount of goods sold, based on data adjusted for working day and seasonal effects.
Seasonally adjusted Euro Area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data. Eurostat carries out the seasonal adjustment of the data for those countries that do not adjust their data for seasonal effects.
Missing observations from Member States for recent months are estimated for the calculation of the euro area and the EU aggregates.