EU’s retail sales were up 0.7% in June from a month earlier, EU’s statistics agency Eurostat said.
Among the member states for which data were available, total retail trade grew in fourteen, fell in six and remained stable in Ireland. The largest increases were observed in Germany (+6.3%), Latvia (+3.3%), Sweden (+3%) and Austria (+2.4%), and the highest decreases in Romania and Belgium (-1%).
In June compared with the same month of 2010, Romanian retail sales fell 8.2%, the third steepest decrease in EU. Sales in the EU bloc nudged down 0.2%, the data showed.
Total retail trade fell in twelve EU states and rose in nine. The largest decreases were observed in Spain (-8.3%), Romania and Portugal (-5.9%), and the highest increases in Luxembourg (+12.4%), Lithuania (+7.1%), Latvia (+5.4%) and France (+4.6%).
According to local statistics data released earlier Wednesday, Romanian adjusted retail sales fell 1.2% in June compared with a month earlier and were down 8.3% on the year.