Data from Eurostat showed that retail sales declined by 0.5% in April, almost offsetting the March increase (+0.7%, revised from +0.8%). It was the sharpest drop since December 2023. Economists had expected a decline of 0.3%. In annual terms, retail sales were unchanged after rising 0.7% in March. Consensus estimates suggested an increase of 0.1%. As for the EU countries, retail sales fell by 0.6% on a monthly basis and by 0.1% compared to April 2023.
The data showed that in the eurozone, compared with March, the volume of retail trade decreased for automotive fuel in specialized stores (-2.2%), food, drinks, tobacco (-0.5%) and non-food products, except automotive fuel (-0.1%).
Compared with April 2023, the volume of retail trade in the eurozone decreased for food, drinks, tobacco (-0.5%), but increased for non-food products, except automotive fuel (+0.4%) and automotive fuel in specialized stores (+0.3%).
As for the EU countries, the largest annual decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Poland (-7.3%), Belgium (-5.8%) and Estonia (-4.9%). The highest increases were observed in Bulgaria and Romania (both +9.8%), Croatia and Slovakia (both +8.6%) and Luxembourg (+7.3%).