Volume of retail trade down by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU

Overview

In February 2024, compared with January 2024, the seasonally adjusted retail trade volume decreased by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In January 2024, retail trade volume remained unchanged in the euro area and grew by 0.2% in the EU.

In February 2024 compared with February 2023, the calendar adjusted retail sales index decreased by 0.7% the euro area and by 0.2% in the EU.

Retail trade volume

Monthly comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in February 2024, compared with January 2024, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.4%,
decreased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.2%,
decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 1.4%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.5%,
decreased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.1%,
decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.9%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest monthly decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Germany (-1.9%), Belgium (-1.8%) and Cyprus (-1.1%). The highest increases were observed in Poland (+1.4%), Croatia (+1.2%) and Estonia (+1.0%).

Annual comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in February 2024, compared with February 2023, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 1.4%,
decreased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.1%,
decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 1.1%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.9%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.6%,
decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 1.5%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest annual decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Belgium (-6.8%), Slovenia (-5.6%) and Finland (-3.7%). The highest increases were observed in Croatia (+9.2%), Romania (+8.7%) and Luxembourg (+6.9%).

Tables

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	Sept-23	Oct-23	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24
Euro area
Total retail trade	0.0	0.3	0.5	-0.6	0.0	-0.5
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.6	-0.6	-0.1	-0.6	0.3	-0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	-0.7	0.9	0.4	-0.9	0.4	-0.2
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.5	0.1	1.8	0.5	0.2	-1.4
EU
Total retail trade	-0.1	0.4	0.4	-0.6	0.2	-0.4
Food, drinks, tobacco	0.6	-0.5	0.0	-0.5	0.3	-0.5
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	-0.8	1.0	0.4	-0.8	0.5	-0.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.6	0.7	0.5	0.7	0.1	-0.9
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	Sept-23	Oct-23	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24
Euro area	0.0	0.3	0.5	-0.6	0.0	-0.5
EU	-0.1	0.4	0.4	-0.6	0.2	-0.4
Belgium	0.7	-0.3	0.9	-1.9	-0.7	-1.8
Bulgaria	0.1	0.8	0.4	-0.7	0.8	0.9
Czechia	-0.4	0.8	0.4	0.1	1.0	c
Denmark	-0.2	1.4	2.7	-2.4	-1.3	-0.1
Germany	0.0	1.0	-0.5	-0.3	-0.3	-1.9
Estonia	0.0	0.0	-0.9	0.2	-2.5	1.0
Ireland	-1.0	0.1	0.0	0.9	0.2	-0.2
Greece	-1.0	-2.1	1.1	2.2	-5.8	c
Spain	-0.2	0.6	1.1	-0.8	-0.5	0.5
France	0.1	-0.1	1.3	-1.1	1.0	-0.3
Croatia	1.2	1.2	0.9	0.6	0.7	1.2
Italy	-0.5	0.3	0.1	c	c	c
Cyprus	0.2	-0.1	1.1	-0.1	1.9	-1.1
Latvia	0.0	2.5	0.6	0.8	-1.1	0.7
Lithuania	-0.4	0.2	1.0	0.1	0.6	0.7
Luxembourg	1.5	1.0	1.5	1.1	1.4	0.2
Hungary	0.1	-0.2	0.8	1.4	0.0	-0.6
Malta	-0.4	0.2	1.2	-1.1	0.1	0.4
Netherlands	0.6	0.2	0.8	-0.4	1.1	0.5
Austria	-0.2	-0.7	0.7	-1.7	1.0	0.0
Poland	0.1	0.2	-0.7	-0.8	-0.1	1.4
Portugal	1.0	-0.6	0.5	0.3	-0.3	-0.4
Romania	-0.6	1.1	1.7	-0.4	4.6	0.5
Slovenia	0.7	0.9	0.2	-0.4	-1.6	-0.9
Slovakia	-1.4	1.8	0.0	1.7	-1.0	0.9
Finland	-0.4	0.2	0.1	-1.0	0.2	-0.9
Sweden	-1.7	2.5	-1.3	-0.5	0.1	0.4
Norway	0.1	0.3	0.3	-1.0	0.0	0.1
Switzerland	-0.3	0.1	0.5	-0.3	0.8	-0.1
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	Sept-23	Oct-23	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24
Euro area
Total retail trade	-3.4	-1.2	-0.6	-0.6	-0.9	-0.7
Food, drinks, tobacco	-1.1	-1.0	-0.5	-0.1	-1.3	-1.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	-4.1	-0.3	0.3	-0.2	-0.7	-0.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-6.1	-5.4	-3.1	-3.6	0.4	-1.1
EU
Total retail trade	-3.2	-1.0	-0.5	-0.5	-0.6	-0.2
Food, drinks, tobacco	-1.2	-0.9	-0.4	0.4	-0.8	-0.9
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	-3.8	0.1	0.6	-0.1	-0.5	0.6
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-6.3	-5.3	-4.7	-5.4	-0.8	-1.5
* Calendar adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	Sept-23	Oct-23	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24
Euro area	-3.4	-1.2	-0.6	-0.6	-0.9	-0.7
EU	-3.2	-1.0	-0.5	-0.5	-0.6	-0.2
Belgium	-8.9	-4.3	-2.6	-3.7	-3.8	-6.8
Bulgaria	0.1	3.4	3.1	0.8	-0.1	3.1
Czechia	-4.3	-1.8	-0.2	1.2	2.4	c
Denmark	-0.7	2.7	5.4	5.0	0.9	0.0
Germany	-3.9	0.1	-1.6	-0.6	-1.3	-2.8
Estonia	-5.8	-5.1	-8.5	-4.2	-6.7	-3.5
Ireland	0.8	0.5	-0.1	1.5	1.2	0.1
Greece	-3.4	-6.0	-4.2	0.8	-8.9	c
Spain	1.0	2.2	3.9	2.6	0.3	1.8
France	-3.8	-2.4	0.2	-0.7	0.3	1.0
Croatia	4.4	6.0	6.8	8.5	7.9	9.2
Italy	-4.6	-2.5	-2.3	c	c	c
Cyprus	3.3	3.2	4.2	4.0	5.6	1.2
Latvia	-3.2	0.1	-0.7	1.4	-1.4	-0.3
Lithuania	-2.3	-0.5	0.3	3.3	-0.8	2.2
Luxembourg	5.8	8.8	9.5	2.2	6.5	6.9
Hungary	-7.4	-6.5	-5.4	-0.2	0.6	1.1
Malta	0.6	0.7	5.1	-0.4	1.4	2.5
Netherlands	-2.1	-0.5	-0.5	0.6	1.1	2.1
Austria	-7.5	-3.0	-2.0	-3.9	-2.3	-1.7
Poland	-0.7	0.8	-1.1	-2.7	-2.1	1.1
Portugal	0.6	-0.1	1.4	0.7	0.1	0.2
Romania	-0.6	0.8	3.4	1.5	7.5	8.7
Slovenia	-6.2	-3.8	-5.1	-3.4	-2.1	-5.6
Slovakia	-7.5	-1.3	-1.7	-3.3	1.7	4.3
Finland	-4.4	-2.7	-2.3	-1.3	-2.3	-3.7
Sweden	-5.5	-0.8	-3.5	-3.0	-3.0	-0.5
Norway	-2.1	-1.1	-1.6	-0.3	-1.1	-0.3
Switzerland	-2.9	-2.0	-1.2	-0.1	0.3	-0.2
* Calendar adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar and seasonally adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	Sept-23	Oct-23	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24
Euro area	98.5	98.8	99.3	98.7	98.7	98.2
EU	98.8	99.2	99.6	99.0	99.2	98.8
Belgium	88.3	88.0	88.8	87.1	86.5	84.9
Bulgaria	106.0	106.8	107.2	106.5	107.4	108.4
Czechia	91.5	92.2	92.6	92.7	93.6	c
Denmark	92.6	93.9	96.4	94.1	92.9	92.8
Germany	95.7	96.7	96.2	95.9	95.6	93.8
Estonia	93.1	93.1	92.3	92.5	90.2	91.1
Ireland	100.6	100.7	100.7	101.6	101.8	101.6
Greece	99.1	97.0	98.1	100.3	94.5	c
Spain	104.3	104.9	106.1	105.3	104.8	105.3
France	100.6	100.5	101.8	100.7	101.7	101.4
Croatia	105.9	107.2	108.2	108.9	109.7	111.0
Italy	97.4	97.7	97.8	c	c	c
Cyprus	110.1	110.0	111.2	111.1	113.2	111.9
Latvia	100.5	103.0	103.6	104.4	103.3	104.0
Lithuania	98.6	98.8	99.8	99.9	100.5	101.2
Luxembourg	103.4	104.4	106.0	107.2	108.7	108.9
Hungary	96.3	96.1	96.9	98.3	98.3	97.7
Malta	112.5	112.7	114.1	112.9	113.0	113.4
Netherlands	99.4	99.6	100.4	100.0	101.1	101.6
Austria	95.5	94.8	95.5	93.9	94.8	94.8
Poland	107.9	108.1	107.3	106.4	106.3	107.8
Portugal	106.7	106.1	106.6	106.9	106.6	106.2
Romania	105.8	107.0	108.8	108.4	113.4	114.0
Slovenia	98.1	99.0	99.2	98.8	97.2	96.3
Slovakia	98.5	100.3	100.3	102.0	101.0	101.9
Finland	92.2	92.4	92.5	91.6	91.8	91.0
Sweden	91.9	94.2	93.0	92.5	92.6	93.0
Norway	92.2	92.5	92.8	91.9	91.9	92.0
Switzerland	97.8	97.9	98.4	98.1	98.9	98.8
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	Sept-23	Oct-23	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24
Euro area	95.8	99.9	102.2	115.3	92.9	87.4
EU	96.4	100.4	102.9	115.4	92.6	87.6
Belgium	84.6	90.1	90.5	102.2	84.0	74.8
Bulgaria	107.7	110.5	113.7	118.5	98.5	96.5
Czechia	88.9	94.7	105.0	114.5	84.4	c
Denmark	87.8	92.6	103.6	109.4	85.7	80.2
Germany	92.0	98.3	102.9	107.1	88.0	84.6
Estonia	92.9	94.6	93.4	104.8	81.2	77.6
Ireland	98.4	95.4	115.9	137.8	94.3	94.2
Greece	101.1	98.1	98.3	110.9	86.1	c
Spain	101.5	103.8	106.1	121.9	104.1	92.0
France	97.7	101.3	102.9	122.7	97.5	90.3
Croatia	110.8	105.8	98.9	111.8	89.2	88.8
Italy	96.1	101.1	99.8	c	c	c
Cyprus	110.3	111.2	111.9	133.7	102.0	98.4
Latvia	99.1	101.6	99.3	115.4	91.4	87.9
Lithuania	98.1	100.7	99.0	112.2	89.9	87.0
Luxembourg	103.2	107.8	109.5	123.0	104.7	99.0
Hungary	95.4	99.6	102.1	117.0	85.6	84.8
Malta	110.1	114.5	120.3	126.4	101.8	98.4
Netherlands	95.1	100.3	104.8	110.7	95.9	88.7
Austria	93.8	97.0	96.2	108.0	86.8	85.1
Poland	108.6	110.7	108.2	122.3	96.9	95.7
Portugal	104.5	105.2	107.5	128.1	97.9	91.7
Romania	107.8	109.3	114.9	122.1	100.4	98.8
Slovenia	99.0	101.7	100.9	109.6	89.4	84.1
Slovakia	96.6	102.6	103.8	113.5	91.6	93.0
Finland	90.9	92.2	93.5	104.5	80.6	75.8
Sweden	88.5	94.5	97.7	103.0	81.6	78.3
Norway	88.8	90.8	101.0	108.0	82.7	77.7
Switzerland	93.0	97.9	105.7	117.8	92.8	87.8
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Notes for users

Revisions and timetable

Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in the News Release of 6 March 2024. The monthly percentage change for January 2024 has been revised from +0.1% to 0.0% in the euro area and from +0.3% to +0.2% in the EU. The annual percentage change has been revised from -1.0% to -0.9% in the euro area and remained unchanged at -0.6% in the EU.

Methods and definitions

The index of the volume of retail trade measures the evolution of the turnover in retail trade, adjusted for price changes (deflated), i.e. the evolution of the total amount of goods sold, based on data adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects.

Seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data.

Missing observations from Member States for recent months are estimated for the calculation of the euro area and the EU aggregates.

Starting with reference period January 2024, the base year of the data has been changed to 2021, since 2018 the base year had been 2015. More information on the reasons for and impact of the base year change can be found in the related Statistics Explained article.

Geographical information

The euro area (EA20) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The European Union (EU27) includes Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland and Sweden.