Food sales were up 0.8% compared with July in data adjusted for the number of working days and seasonal factors. However, sales of non-food items were down 0.6%, while fuel sales fell 2.9% on the month in August.
Compared with August 2012, adjusted retail sales inched up 0.4%, on 5.4% higher sales of non-food products, INS data showed. Fuel sales dropped 7.6% on the year in August, while food sales edged down 2.4%.
In the first eight months of 2013, adjusted retail sales were down 0.2% compared with the year-earlier period, the data showed.
In unadjusted data, retail sales were up 2.6% in August from a month earlier, but down 1.4% compared with the same period of 2012.