Turkey: Retail sales volume down 9.2 pct in December

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's calendar-adjusted retail sales volume with constant prices fell 9.2 percent year-on-year in December 2018, according to the official figures on Friday.

"In the same month food, drinks and tobacco sales decreased by 2.7 percent," TurkStat said.

Excluding automotive fuel, non-food sales went down by 12.6 percent, while automotive fuel sales declined 9.5 percent over the same period.

Retail sales volume of computers, books, telecommunications equipment dropped 21.7 percent while electronic goods and furniture sales volume saw an annual fall of 19 percent.

Textiles, clothing and footwear sales volume rose by 1.4 percent, as medical goods and cosmetic sales volume were down 0.4 percent.

Official data showed that non-food sales volume via mail orders and the Internet climbed by 16.8 percent on a yearly basis in December.

TurkStat also noted that the country's calendar-adjusted retail sales volume was up 1.4 percent on average last year.