In February 2012 compared with January 2012, the volume of retail trade* decreased by 0.1% in the euro area** (EA17) and by 0.4% in the EU27**. In January*** retail trade rose by 1.1% and 0.9% respectively.
In February 2012****, compared with February 2011, the retail sales index fell by 2.1% in the euro area and by 1.1% in the EU27.
Monthly comparison
In February 2012, compared with January 2012, “Food, drinks and tobacco” rose by 0.6% in the euro area and
0.4% in the EU27. The non food sector remained stable in the euro area and fell by 0.3% in the EU27.
Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade fell in ten and rose in eleven. The largest
decreases were observed in Slovenia (-5.0%), Poland (-2.7%) and Romania (-2.5%), and the highest increases in
Malta (+4.7%), Luxembourg (+2.2%) and Denmark (+1.9%).
Annual comparison
In February 2012, compared with February 2011, “Food, drinks and tobacco” fell by 1.0% in the euro area and by
0.3% in the EU27. The non food sector decreased by 1.6% and 0.2% respectively.
Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade fell in eight and rose in thirteen. The
largest decreases were observed in Portugal (-9.6%), Bulgaria (-6.4%) and Spain (-6.2%), and the highest
increases in Estonia (+14.8%), Latvia (+10.0%) and Denmark (+8.1%).
*Based on data adjusted for working days and seasonal effects.
As announced in the News Release 19/2012 of 3 February 2012, the seasonal adjustment method has been revised in order to improve the consistency between European and national aggregates. As from March 2012, the seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data. Eurostat carries out the seasonal adjustment of the data for those countries that do not adjust their data for seasonal effects. See annex of News Release 19/2012 for further information.
The weights of the Member States in the EU and euro area aggregates can be found at: http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/dsis/ebt/library?l=/sts_weights_public&vm=detailed&sb=Title
More detailed data can be found in the short-term statistics database on the Eurostat website: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/short_term_business_statistics/data/database
**The euro area (EA17) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
***Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in the News Release 34/2012 of 5 March 2012. The monthly growth rates for January 2012 have been revised from +0.3% to +1.1% in the EA17 and from +0.4% to +0.9% in the EU27. The annual growth rates have been revised from 0.0% to -1.1% in the EA17 and from +0.7% to -0.1% in the EU27.
****4. Based on data adjusted for working days.