EU's retail trade rate decreases by .2 percent

[News_Editor]

EU's retail trade rate decreases by .2 percent

2010-11-05 20:31:50 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The volume of retail trade in the Euro zone decreased by .2 percent in September, compared to August's rate, and by .1 percent in the European Union (EU) 27 area, an EU report released on Friday said.

According to EU's Eurostat, the retail sales index rose by 1.1 percent in the Euro area this past September, compared with September 2009. The EU27 rose 1.3 percent.

The report also showed that during September, compared with August, "Food, drinks and tobacco" decreased by 0.1 percent in the Euro area, but rose by 0.3 percent in the EU27. Meanwhile, the non food sector declined by 0.3 percent in both zones.

Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade fell in eight and increased in twelve. The largest decreases were observed in Germany (-2.3 percent), Portugal (-1.4 percent) and Ireland (-1.0 percent), and the highest increases in Belgium (+1.9 percent), Poland (+1.6 percent) and Austria (+1.5 percent).

Compared to last year, September's “Food, drinks and tobacco†rose 0.1 percent in the Euro area. However, it declined by 0.5 percent in the EU27. The non food sector increased by 2.6 percent and 3.5 percent respectively.

According to the available data, total retail trade rose in eleven and decreased in nine. The highest increases were observed in Poland (+9.9 percent), Belgium (+8.5 percent) and Latvia (+6.1 percent), and the largest decreases in Spain (-4.9 percent), Bulgaria (-4.7 percent) and Slovakia (-1.8 percent).

In addition, the report estimated that the monthly growth rates for August have been revised from -0.4 percent to -0.2 percent in the Euro area and from -0.3 percent to -0.2 percent in the EU27.

The annual growth rates have been revised from +0.6 percent to +1.3 percent in the Euro area, and from +0.8 percent to +1.3 percent in the EU27.

The EU27 includes Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

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