Volume of retail trade up by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU

Overview

In September 2024, compared with August 2024, the seasonally adjusted retail trade volume increased by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU, according to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In August 2024, retail trade volume grew by 1.1% in the euro area and by 0.9% in the EU.

In September 2024, compared with September 2023, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 2.9% the euro area and by 2.8% in the EU.

Retail trade volume

Monthly comparison by retail sector and by Member State

In the euro area in September 2024, compared with August 2024, the volume of retail trade

decreased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.4%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 1.1%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.2%.

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 0.9%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 0.4%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest monthly increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Belgium, Denmark and Croatia (all +2.1%), Germany (+1.2%), Austria and Slovakia (both +1.1%). The largest decreases were observed in Slovenia (-2.6%), Poland (-2.0%) and Finland (-1.6%).

Annual comparison by retail sector and by Member State

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

increased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.2%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 5.3%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 2.2%.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade

increased for food, drinks, tobacco by 0.4%,
increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel) by 5.0%,
increased for automotive fuel in specialised stores by 1.6%.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest annual increases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Luxembourg (+13.1%), Romania (+10.3%) and Croatia (+7.1%). The largest decreases were observed in Estonia (-4.4%), Poland and Slovenia (both -3.0%) and Finland (-2.1%).

Tables

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
	2024
	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Euro area
Total retail trade	0.1	0.2	-0.7	0.4	1.1	0.5
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.8	1.0	-0.4	-0.1	1.1	-0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.8	-0.5	-0.5	0.7	1.2	1.1
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	-0.1	0.1	-0.5	-0.1	1.3	0.2
EU
Total retail trade	0.1	0.1	-0.5	0.4	0.9	0.3
Food, drinks, tobacco	-1.3	1.5	-0.7	0.1	0.7	-0.1
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	0.9	-0.6	-0.4	0.8	1.0	0.9
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	0.0	-0.4	-0.1	-0.7	1.0	0.4
* Calendar and seasonally adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the previous month*
				2024
	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Euro area	0.1	0.2	-0.7	0.4	1.1	0.5
EU	0.1	0.1	-0.5	0.4	0.9	0.3
Belgium	-0.1	0.1	-1.0	1.1	0.2	2.1
Bulgaria	1.9	-0.7	1.5	0.8	-0.8	0.4
Czechia	0.1	-0.4	0.4	0.8	0.1	c
Denmark	-1.3	1.1	0.9	0.0	-1.9	2.1
Germany	0.3	-0.7	-0.5	0.6	1.2	1.2
Estonia	-1.3	-0.6	-0.9	0.6	0.4	-0.9
Ireland	0.9	-0.1	-0.7	0.6	-0.6	0.6
Greece	-5.9	16.9	-6.2	-4.5	-2.5	c
Spain	0.9	-0.5	0.5	0.6	0.5	1.0
France	0.2	-0.1	-0.5	0.2	2.6	-0.5
Croatia	0.6	0.4	-1.2	1.4	-0.7	2.1
Italy	-0.1	0.2	-0.2	c	c	c
Cyprus	-1.1	1.6	0.1	-1.1	2.1	-0.2
Latvia	-2.9	1.4	-1.2	1.3	0.2	-0.3
Lithuania	-1.3	2.1	-2.0	1.4	0.0	0.3
Luxembourg	0.8	1.4	0.5	-5.9	5.3	-0.2
Hungary	-1.0	0.1	-0.2	0.0	0.8	-1.4
Malta	2.4	-0.3	-0.6	0.5	0.0	0.2
Netherlands	-1.1	0.7	-1.6	0.6	1.0	0.0
Austria	2.0	-0.5	-2.8	3.0	0.0	1.1
Poland	-1.1	-0.7	-0.5	1.2	0.5	-2.0
Portugal	2.1	0.4	0.7	-0.3	1.1	0.9
Romania	0.6	-0.3	1.3	-1.6	1.6	0.9
Slovenia	0.5	-0.9	-1.2	1.9	-0.8	-2.6
Slovakia	2.3	-1.1	-1.2	1.8	-1.1	1.1
Finland	-1.5	1.9	-1.5	0.0	1.0	-1.6
Sweden	c	c	c	c	c	c
Norway	-0.1	3.7	-5.1	1.2	0.1	-0.3
Switzerland	0.2	0.0	-0.8	2.0	0.1	-0.5
* 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*
	2024
	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Euro area
Total retail trade	0.8	0.4	-0.8	0.1	2.4	2.9
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.3	0.4	-0.3	-0.3	1.2	0.2
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	1.6	0.4	-1.0	0.0	2.4	5.3
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	1.9	0.3	-0.4	-0.1	4.8	2.2
EU
Total retail trade	0.7	0.5	-0.5	0.5	2.4	2.8
Food, drinks, tobacco	-0.1	0.8	-0.4	0.0	1.2	0.4
Non-food products (except automotive fuel)	1.0	0.6	-0.7	0.8	2.6	5.0
Automotive fuel in specialised stores	1.9	-0.1	0.2	-0.3	3.8	1.6
* Calendar adjusted Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade % change compared with the same month of the previous year*
	2024
	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Euro area	0.8	0.4	-0.8	0.1	2.4	2.9
EU	0.7	0.5	-0.5	0.5	2.4	2.8
Belgium	-5.1	-4.6	-6.3	-4.0	-1.7	-0.7
Bulgaria	9.9	1.6	4.4	6.8	4.9	4.8
Czechia	5.7	3.0	3.7	4.9	5.3	c
Denmark	-0.6	-0.1	1.8	3.1	-1.4	2.0
Germany	0.7	-1.8	-2.1	-0.4	2.1	3.9
Estonia	-4.9	-4.0	-4.1	-3.1	-2.7	-4.4
Ireland	1.4	-0.3	-1.4	1.0	-1.4	1.1
Greece	-6.4	10.5	5.9	-2.7	-5.2	c
Spain	0.5	0.1	0.4	1.2	2.3	4.3
France	3.0	1.8	0.0	-0.6	5.0	3.4
Croatia	8.6	8.4	5.6	7.9	5.7	7.1
Italy	-1.0	-0.8	-0.9	c	c	c
Cyprus	1.9	3.8	3.9	1.1	5.7	4.5
Latvia	0.3	0.9	-1.3	0.1	0.7	0.2
Lithuania	2.4	5.7	2.6	5.6	4.2	4.8
Luxembourg	18.5	19.9	16.9	9.6	16.9	13.1
Hungary	3.2	3.7	2.5	2.5	4.1	1.8
Malta	8.5	5.9	2.7	2.8	2.3	2.5
Netherlands	1.9	2.4	-1.9	1.9	2.4	1.5
Austria	1.8	1.0	-4.0	-0.3	0.7	2.7
Poland	-7.8	-2.1	-2.4	1.2	0.7	-3.0
Portugal	1.9	2.9	3.2	2.4	5.6	5.2
Romania	9.9	6.1	10.3	6.5	8.7	10.3
Slovenia	1.2	-0.7	-0.2	3.0	1.6	-3.0
Slovakia	8.6	5.3	1.7	5.0	1.1	3.9
Finland	-4.4	-0.1	-1.8	-1.8	0.3	-2.1
Sweden	c	c	c	c	c	c
Norway	0.9	3.3	-2.8	-0.7	-0.1	-0.6
Switzerland	2.2	0.0	-2.8	2.8	2.8	2.3
* Calendar adjusted c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar and seasonally adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	2024
	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Euro area	99.9	100.1	99.4	99.8	100.9	101.4
EU	100.3	100.4	99.9	100.3	101.2	101.5
Belgium	89.4	89.5	88.6	89.6	89.8	91.7
Bulgaria	110.2	109.4	111.0	111.9	111.0	111.4
Czechia	95.6	95.2	95.6	96.4	96.5	c
Denmark	92.5	93.5	94.3	94.3	92.5	94.4
Germany	96.9	96.2	95.7	96.3	97.5	98.7
Estonia	90.6	90.1	89.3	89.8	90.2	89.4
Ireland	109.0	108.9	108.1	108.8	108.2	108.9
Greece	94.2	110.1	103.3	98.6	96.1	c
Spain	105.9	105.4	105.9	106.5	107.0	108.1
France	102.5	102.4	101.9	102.1	104.8	104.3
Croatia	111.7	112.1	110.8	112.4	111.6	113.9
Italy	97.7	97.9	97.7	c	c	c
Cyprus	112.7	114.5	114.6	113.3	115.7	115.5
Latvia	100.5	101.9	100.7	102.0	102.2	101.9
Lithuania	101.8	103.9	101.8	103.2	103.2	103.5
Luxembourg	119.7	121.4	122.0	114.8	120.9	120.7
Hungary	99.3	99.4	99.2	99.2	100.0	98.6
Malta	115.4	115.0	114.3	114.9	114.9	115.1
Netherlands	100.2	100.9	99.3	99.9	100.9	100.9
Austria	96.6	96.1	93.4	96.2	96.2	97.3
Poland	106.8	106.1	105.6	106.9	107.4	105.2
Portugal	109.2	109.6	110.4	110.1	111.3	112.3
Romania	114.9	114.6	116.1	114.3	116.1	117.1
Slovenia	99.7	98.8	97.6	99.5	98.7	96.1
Slovakia	103.3	102.2	101.0	102.8	101.7	102.8
Finland	90.9	92.6	91.2	91.2	92.1	90.6
Sweden	c	c	c	c	c	c
Norway	92.5	95.9	91.0	92.1	92.2	91.9
Switzerland	99.0	99.0	98.2	100.2	100.3	99.8
c Confidential Source dataset: sts_trtu_m

Volume of retail trade, calendar adjusted indices (base year 2021)
	2024
	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep
Euro area	96.5	99.8	99.6	98.9	103.8	98.9
EU	97.3	100.4	100.2	99.8	104.0	99.3
Belgium	87.2	91.0	91.5	90.2	84.5	88.3
Bulgaria	108.4	106.4	109.9	116.2	115.9	112.9
Czechia	91.3	94.8	95.7	95.0	94.6	c
Denmark	91.8	98.2	97.7	93.0	93.5	89.8
Germany	96.7	96.8	94.3	97.3	94.4	95.6
Estonia	87.3	93.5	91.5	93.9	93.7	88.8
Ireland	101.0	105.4	112.6	99.4	102.2	102.7
Greece	92.9	103.9	102.2	103.5	103.6	c
Spain	101.2	104.2	107.3	115.0	106.3	105.9
France	99.5	100.5	101.9	85.6	122.7	101.0
Croatia	106.8	113.4	118.6	139.3	136.2	118.7
Italy	88.2	97.4	97.4	c	c	c
Cyprus	109.1	111.9	115.9	120.0	115.4	114.9
Latvia	98.2	104.6	102.2	106.9	107.7	100.2
Lithuania	99.9	108.3	103.9	108.6	109.5	102.8
Luxembourg	116.5	123.5	124.6	117.6	110.7	118.0
Hungary	95.5	99.3	100.7	102.5	103.0	97.2
Malta	115.0	122.2	116.2	121.2	115.9	111.1
Netherlands	98.9	105.1	101.6	102.2	96.3	96.5
Austria	97.5	94.8	93.6	97.9	95.0	96.4
Poland	107.1	106.2	104.9	108.3	109.3	105.3
Portugal	102.3	107.9	105.9	117.3	118.9	109.9
Romania	113.6	114.0	115.4	118.7	122.8	118.9
Slovenia	99.3	97.9	99.8	103.1	99.4	95.9
Slovakia	101.0	103.9	103.2	102.3	101.0	100.5
Finland	87.6	97.5	97.7	97.3	96.6	88.9
Sweden	c	c	c	c	c	c
Norway	87.5	102.9	97.3	91.2	94.3	88.2
Switzerland	95.7	101.1	97.2	99.5	95.3	95.2
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 October 2024. The monthly percentage change for August 2024 has been revised from +0.2% to +1.1% in the euro area and from +0.3% to +0.9% in the EU. The annual percentage change has been revised from +0.8% to +2.4% in the euro area and from +1.0% to +2.4% 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.