Data from Eurostat showed that retail sales fell by 0.3% in June after rising by 0.1% in May. This was the sharpest decline since December 2023. Economists had expected a 0.1% decrease. In annual terms, retail sales decreased by 0.3%, partially offsetting the May increase (+0.5%, revised from +0.3%). This was the first decrease in the last 4 months. Consensus estimates suggested an increase of 0.2%. As for the EU countries, retail sales fell by 0.1% on a monthly basis and rose by 0.1% compared to June 2023.
The data showed that in the eurozone, compared with May, the volume of retail trade decreased for food, drinks, tobacco (-0.7%) and non-food products, except automotive fuel (-0.1%), but increased for automotive fuel in specialized stores (+0.5%).
Compared with June 2023, the volume of retail trade in the eurozone for non-food products, except automotive fuel (+0.3%) and automotive fuel in specialized stores (+0.3%), but decreased for food, drinks, tobacco (-0.7%).
As for the EU countries, the highest annual increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Romania (+10.2%), Luxembourg (+7.9%) and Croatia (+5.4%). The largest decreases were observed in Belgium (-7.3%), Estonia (-4.1%) and Austria (-3.9%).