Retail trade volume up by 0.3 percent in EUR area, 0.1 percent in EU in December 2015

The average retail trade for the year 2015, compared with 2014, rose by 2.4% in the EUR area and by 0.3% in the
EU28. The 0.3% increase in the volume of retail trade in the EUR area in December 2015, compared with November 2015, is due to rises of 0.6% for “Food, drinks and tobacco” and of 0.2% for non-food products, while-automotive fuel fell by 0.1%.

In the EU28, the 0.1% increase in the volume of retail trade is due to rise of 0.8 % for “Food, drinks and tobacco”, while non-food products and automotive fuel both fell by 0.4%. Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in total retail trade were registered in Estonia (+2.1%), France (+1.3%) and Luxembourg (+1.1%), and the largest decreases in Portugal (-1.8%), Sweden (-1.7%) and Denmark (-1.4%).

The 1.4% increase in the volume of retail trade in the EUR area in December 2015, compared with December 2014, is due to rises of 1.8% for non-food products and of 0.8% for “Food, drinks and tobacco”, while automotive fuel fell by 0.8%. In the EU28, the 2.0% increase in retail trade volume is due to rises of 2.3% for non-food products, of 1.5% for “Food, drinks and tobacco” and of 0.1% for automotive fuel
.
Among Member States for which data are available, the highest in creases in total retail trade were observed in Romania (+14.3%), Ireland (+6.1%), Estonia (+5.8%) and Poland (+5.5%), while decreases were observed in Portugal (-1.3%), Belgium (-1.2%) and Denmark (-0.3%).