Volume of retail trade down by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU

Overview

In April 2024, compared with March 2024, the seasonally adjusted retail trade volume decreased by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In March 2024, retail trade volume grew by 0.7% in the euro area and by 0.6% in the EU.

In April 2024 compared with April 2023, the calendar adjusted retail sales index remained stable in the euro area and decreased by 0.1% in the EU.

Retail trade volume

Monthly comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in April 2024, compared with March 2024, 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 2.2%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.9%,
remained stable for non-food products (except automotive fuel),
decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 2.0%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest monthly decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Latvia (-3.3%), Cyprus (-3.1%) and Denmark (-2.7%). The highest increases were observed in Slovakia (+2.4%), Bulgaria and Austria (both +1.9%) and Portugal (+1.7%).

Annual comparison by retail sector and by Member State

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

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.5%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 0.4%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.3%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

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

Among Member States for which data are available, the largest annual decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Poland (-7.3%), Belgium (-5.8%) and Estonia (-4.9%). The highest increases were observed in Bulgaria and Romania (both +9.8%), Croatia and Slovakia (both +8.6%) and Luxembourg (+7.3%).

Tables

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24
Euro area
Total retail trade	0.4	-0.5	0.1	-0.2	0.7	-0.5
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.1	-0.6	0.3	-0.2	1.0	-0.5
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.3	-0.7	0.4	0.4	-0.1	-0.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	1.9	0.5	0.6	-1.1	1.0	-2.2
EU
Total retail trade	0.4	-0.4	0.2	0.0	0.6	-0.6
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.2	-0.3	0.3	-0.2	0.9	-0.9
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.4	-0.7	0.4	0.5	-0.2	0.0
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.6	0.7	0.3	0.0	0.4	-2.0
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24
Euro area	0.4	-0.5	0.1	-0.2	0.7	-0.5
EU	0.4	-0.4	0.2	0.0	0.6	-0.6
Belgium	0.9	-1.9	-0.7	-1.9	0.4	-0.5
Bulgaria	0.4	-0.7	0.8	0.4	0.1	1.9
Czechia	0.5	0.2	1.4	-0.3	1.3	c
Denmark	1.0	-0.1	-1.9	1.2	0.1	-2.7
Germany	-0.5	-0.2	-0.2	-1.6	2.7	-1.2
Estonia	-0.9	0.1	-2.3	1.1	0.4	-1.0
Ireland	0.0	1.2	0.0	0.2	0.1	0.9
Greece	1.2	2.3	-6.3	0.6	6.3	c
Spain	1.2	-0.8	-0.5	0.6	-0.5	0.8
France	1.3	-0.9	0.9	0.5	-0.2	-0.4
Croatia	1.0	0.8	0.5	0.8	0.5	0.7
Italy	0.1	-0.7	0.2	-0.1	0.1	-0.2
Cyprus	1.0	0.1	1.4	-1.2	4.7	-3.1
Latvia	0.6	0.8	-1.4	0.6	1.2	-3.3
Lithuania	1.0	0.1	0.8	0.8	1.6	-1.5
Luxembourg	1.8	3.0	1.3	2.9	-2.4	-2.6
Hungary	0.8	1.5	0.1	-0.3	1.9	-0.9
Malta	1.2	-1.1	0.3	0.8	-1.0	0.9
Netherlands	0.8	-0.5	1.2	0.7	-0.5	-1.0
Austria	0.7	-1.6	1.1	0.3	-0.9	1.9
Poland	-0.7	-0.8	1.8	0.7	-1.0	-0.9
Portugal	0.5	0.3	-0.2	0.4	0.2	1.7
Romania	1.7	-0.4	4.6	-0.3	1.0	0.8
Slovenia	0.2	-0.2	-1.4	-0.2	2.3	-1.0
Slovakia	0.2	1.9	-1.2	1.0	-0.5	2.4
Finland	0.0	-1.0	0.3	0.2	0.8	-0.8
Sweden	-1.1	-0.5	0.1	2.8	-2.3	-0.1
Norway	0.4	-1.0	0.0	0.3	0.3	-0.3
Switzerland	0.6	-0.2	0.8	0.0	-0.3	0.3
* 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*
	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24
Euro area
Total retail trade	-0.6	-0.5	-0.7	-0.3	0.7	0.0
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.5	-0.1	-1.3	-1.2	1.0	-0.5
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.3	-0.1	-0.7	0.7	0.7	0.4
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-3.1	-3.4	0.7	-1.5	-1.0	0.3
EU
Total retail trade	-0.6	-0.5	-0.5	0.2	1.4	-0.1
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.6	0.3	-0.7	-0.5	1.4	-0.1
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.6	-0.1	-0.5	1.1	1.7	0.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-4.5	-5.1	-0.4	-1.0	-1.1	0.0
* Calendar adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24
Euro area	-0.6	-0.5	-0.7	-0.3	0.7	0.0
EU	-0.6	-0.5	-0.5	0.2	1.4	-0.1
Belgium	-2.6	-3.7	-3.8	-6.8	-4.6	-5.8
Bulgaria	3.1	0.8	-0.1	3.1	0.4	9.8
Czechia	-0.2	1.1	3.3	2.5	6.2	c
Denmark	2.7	4.7	0.7	2.1	2.9	-1.9
Germany	-1.6	-0.5	-1.1	-2.3	1.0	-0.8
Estonia	-8.5	-4.3	-6.7	-3.5	-2.3	-4.9
Ireland	-0.1	1.5	1.2	1.1	1.2	1.0
Greece	-4.3	0.8	-9.3	-9.5	5.2	c
Spain	3.9	2.7	0.3	1.8	0.6	0.5
France	0.3	-0.6	0.4	1.5	0.8	1.9
Croatia	6.8	8.5	7.9	9.1	8.9	8.6
Italy	-2.3	-2.3	-2.6	-0.6	-1.3	-1.2
Cyprus	3.3	3.7	4.8	0.5	6.7	2.9
Latvia	-0.7	1.7	-1.3	-0.2	3.5	-0.2
Lithuania	0.3	3.3	-0.7	2.6	6.2	2.0
Luxembourg	9.6	7.2	11.6	15.5	12.7	7.3
Hungary	-5.5	-0.3	0.6	1.7	4.1	3.2
Malta	5.1	-0.4	1.8	4.8	-0.7	2.5
Netherlands	-0.5	0.6	0.9	2.5	3.2	1.6
Austria	-2.0	-3.9	-2.1	-1.2	-2.1	1.4
Poland	-1.1	-2.7	-1.6	2.2	8.2	-7.3
Portugal	1.4	0.7	0.2	1.2	1.2	1.7
Romania	3.4	1.5	7.5	7.4	5.7	9.8
Slovenia	-5.1	-3.3	-1.9	-4.4	-0.5	-0.2
Slovakia	-1.7	-3.3	1.7	4.3	1.3	8.6
Finland	-2.4	-1.7	-2.5	-2.2	0.8	-2.2
Sweden	-3.5	-3.0	-3.1	2.4	0.0	-0.6
Norway	-1.6	-0.3	-1.1	-0.3	0.7	0.9
Switzerland	-1.2	0.1	0.4	-0.1	-0.2	2.8
* Calendar adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar and seasonally adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24
Euro area	99.3	98.8	98.9	98.7	99.4	98.9
EU	99.6	99.2	99.4	99.4	100.0	99.4
Belgium	88.7	87.0	86.4	84.8	85.1	84.7
Bulgaria	107.2	106.5	107.4	107.8	107.9	110.0
Czechia	93.0	93.2	94.5	94.2	95.4	c
Denmark	94.5	94.4	92.6	93.7	93.8	91.3
Germany	96.2	96.0	95.8	94.3	96.8	95.6
Estonia	92.4	92.5	90.4	91.4	91.8	90.9
Ireland	100.5	101.7	101.7	101.9	102.0	102.9
Greece	98.5	100.8	94.5	95.1	101.1	c
Spain	106.1	105.3	104.8	105.4	104.9	105.7
France	102.0	101.1	102.0	102.5	102.3	101.9
Croatia	108.4	109.3	109.9	110.8	111.3	112.1
Italy	97.9	97.2	97.4	97.3	97.4	97.2
Cyprus	110.7	110.8	112.4	111.0	116.2	112.6
Latvia	103.3	104.1	102.6	103.2	104.4	101.0
Lithuania	99.8	99.9	100.7	101.5	103.1	101.6
Luxembourg	107.4	110.6	112.0	115.3	112.5	109.6
Hungary	97.1	98.6	98.7	98.4	100.3	99.4
Malta	113.8	112.5	112.8	113.7	112.6	113.6
Netherlands	100.4	99.9	101.1	101.8	101.3	100.3
Austria	95.5	94.0	95.0	95.3	94.4	96.2
Poland	107.3	106.4	108.3	109.1	108.0	107.0
Portugal	106.6	106.9	106.7	107.1	107.3	109.1
Romania	108.8	108.4	113.4	113.1	114.2	115.1
Slovenia	99.4	99.2	97.8	97.6	99.8	98.8
Slovakia	100.4	102.3	101.1	102.1	101.6	104.0
Finland	92.6	91.7	92.0	92.2	92.9	92.2
Sweden	93.1	92.6	92.7	95.3	93.1	93.0
Norway	92.9	92.0	92.0	92.3	92.6	92.3
Switzerland	98.5	98.3	99.1	99.1	98.8	99.1
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24	Apr-24
Euro area	102.2	115.4	93.0	87.8	97.9	95.4
EU	102.8	115.5	92.7	88.1	98.6	96.4
Belgium	90.5	102.2	84.0	74.8	84.5	83.2
Bulgaria	113.7	118.5	98.5	96.5	104.3	108.3
Czechia	105.0	114.5	85.1	81.3	93.2	c
Denmark	101.3	108.8	85.4	81.9	92.4	90.6
Germany	102.9	107.3	88.2	85.1	98.5	95.1
Estonia	93.4	104.7	81.2	77.6	90.8	87.3
Ireland	115.9	137.8	94.3	95.1	92.8	98.1
Greece	98.3	111.0	85.8	89.1	95.6	c
Spain	106.1	122.0	104.1	92.0	101.3	101.2
France	103.0	123.0	97.6	90.8	99.9	98.4
Croatia	98.9	111.8	89.2	88.7	102.6	106.8
Italy	99.8	117.8	91.5	87.1	94.1	88.0
Cyprus	112.4	133.9	101.4	97.6	110.5	109.4
Latvia	99.4	115.7	91.4	88.1	101.5	97.8
Lithuania	99.0	112.2	90.0	87.3	101.1	99.6
Luxembourg	109.6	129.1	109.7	106.8	117.2	105.0
Hungary	102.1	116.9	85.6	85.2	98.3	95.5
Malta	120.7	126.4	102.0	100.3	107.6	108.6
Netherlands	104.8	110.7	95.8	89.2	100.5	98.7
Austria	96.2	108.0	86.8	85.6	96.6	97.0
Poland	108.2	122.3	97.4	96.8	111.7	107.7
Portugal	107.5	128.1	98.0	92.6	103.0	102.1
Romania	114.9	122.1	100.4	97.6	110.6	113.5
Slovenia	100.9	109.6	89.5	85.2	101.3	98.2
Slovakia	103.8	113.5	91.6	93.0	102.9	101.0
Finland	93.4	104.1	80.4	77.0	88.8	89.6
Sweden	97.7	103.0	81.5	80.6	91.1	92.1
Norway	101.0	108.0	82.7	77.7	88.2	87.4
Switzerland	105.7	118.0	92.8	87.9	99.6	96.1
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 7 May 2024. The monthly percentage change for March 2024 has been revised from +0.8% to +0.7% in the euro area and from +1.2% to +0.6% in the EU. The annual percentage increase remained unchanged at +0.7% in the euro area and has been revised from +2.0% to +1.4% 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.