Data from Eurostat showed that retail sales increased by 0.1% in July after falling by 0.4% in June (revised from -0.3%). Economists also expected a 0.1% increase. In annual terms, retail sales fell by 0.1%, slowing compared to June (-0.4%, revised from -0.3%). Consensus estimates suggested an increase of 0.1%. As for the EU countries, retail sales increased by 0.2% on a monthly basis and by 0.4% compared to July 2023.
The data showed that in the eurozone, compared with June, the volume of retail trade increased for food, drinks, tobacco (+0.4%) and non-food products, except automotive fuel (+0.1%), but decreased for automotive fuel in specialized stores (-1.0%).
Compared with July 2023, the volume of retail trade in the eurozone decreased for food, drinks, tobacco (-0.7%), increased for non-food products, except automotive fuel (+0.2%) and remained stable for automotive fuel in specialized stores.
As for the EU countries, the highest annual increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Luxembourg (+10.3%), Croatia (+7.9%) and Bulgaria (+6.8%). The largest decreases were observed in Belgium (-4.4%), Estonia (-3.1%) and Finland (-2.1%).