Title: Euro zone retail trade weaker than expected as food sales fall

Jun 03, 2022 05:15AM ET

By: AnalysisWatch

Retail sales in the euro area were much weaker than expected in April, according to data released on Friday, mainly due to lower purchases of food, beverages and tobacco.

The EU's statistics office said retail sales volumes in the 19 countries that share the euro fell 1.3% month-on-month in April, for a 3.9% increase year-on-year. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a monthly increase of 0.3 and a 5.4 year-on-year advance.

Retail sales had risen in the first three months of the year.

Eurostat said sales of food, beverages and tobacco fell 2.6% during the month, while non-food products fell 0.7%, despite a 3.4% rise in online and mail order sales. Sales of motor fuels rose 1.9%.

The fall was particularly sharp in Germany, the euro area's largest economy, where sales fell by 5.4% during the month. Slovenia and Latvia were also weak, while sales in Spain, Luxembourg, Ireland and Malta rose.

Compared with the previous year, Slovenia and Malta recorded the largest increases, and Finland, Luxembourg and Belgium the largest decreases.