Eurozone retail sales return to growth in July

By Emir Yildirim

ISTANBUL (AA) – Euro area retail sales returned to growth in July with a slight rise of 0.1% month-on-month, in line with market expectations, following a 0.4% drop in June, according to new data released Thursday.

Sales volume climbed 0.4% for food, drinks, and tobacco, and 0.1% for non-food products excluding automotive fuel, while the automotive fuel sales volume dropped 1% in July compared to the previous month, Eurostat data showed.

On an annual basis, retail sales in the eurozone dropped 0.1%, below the market expectation of a 0.1% increase.

The eurozone/euro area, or EA19, represents member states that use the bloc’s single currency, the euro, while the EU27 includes all member countries.

As for the EU, retail sales climbed 0.2% on a monthly basis and 0.4% year-on-year in July.

The largest monthly hikes in the total retail volume were seen in Croatia (up 2.9%), Austria and Slovakia (both up 1.8%), and Slovenia (up 1.6%).

The largest month-on-month declines were seen in Luxembourg (down 2.1%), Romania (down 1.8%), and Southern Cyprus (down 1.1%).