The bloc’s average growth was 0.4%, EU’s statistics agency Eurostat said.
Among the member states for which data were available, total retail trade grew in nine and fell in nine. The highest increases were observed in Latvia (+6.4%), Slovenia (+5.5%) and Romania, and the largest decreases in Portugal (-2.7%), Denmark (-2.1%) and Germany (-1.6%).
In January compared with the year-earlier month, Romanian retail sales rose 10.2%, again the third biggest increase in the EU. Sales in the EU bloc inched up 0.7% on the year, the data showed.
Total retail trade rose in eleven EU states and fell in seven. The highest increases were observed in Lithuania (+17%), Latvia (+16.6%) and Romania, and the largest decreases in Portugal (-8.7%), Malta (-5.7%) and Bulgaria (-2.6%).