Eurostat announces that in May 2006, compared to May 2005, the volume of retail trade1 grew by 0.8 in the euro area2 and by 2.2 in the EU25. Compared to April 20063, the retail sales index fell by 0.6 in the euro area and by 0.1 in the EU25.
Annual changes
In May 2006, compared to May 2005, retail trade of “food, drinks and tobacco” dropped by 0.6 in the euro area, but grew by 0.6 in the EU25. The non food sector increased by 2.0 and 3.7 respectively.
Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade rose in Latvia (+20.8), Estonia (+19.9), Sweden (+12.0), Slovakia (+9.6), Poland (+6.0), Denmark, Lithuania and Finland (+5.5 each), Luxembourg (+4.6), Slovenia (+4.0), the United Kingdom (+3.9), Portugal (+2.1), France (+1.4), Spain (+1.3) and Belgium (+0.9), while falls were recorded in Germany (-2.0) and Austria (-0.1).
Monthly changes
In May 2006, compared with April 2006, “food, drinks and tobacco” decreased by 0.8 in the euro area and by 0.4 in the EU25. The non-food sector fell by 0.4 in the euro area, but gained 0.3 in the EU25.
Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade increased in Luxembourg (+3.4), Estonia (+2.7), Latvia (+2.2), Denmark and Slovakia (both +1.5), Lithuania (+1.4), Sweden (+0.7), Portugal (+0.6), Spain and the United Kingdom (both +0.5) and France (+0.1).
Decreases were recorded in Germany (-2.2), Poland (-2.0), Austria (-1.6), Slovenia (-1.1), Belgium (-0.4) and Finland (-0.1).
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