Eurozone retail trade down by 0.2% in July

The volume of retail trade in the 17 eurozone nations in July down by 0.2 percent as compared with June, according to a report published by Eurostat on Wednesday. According to the statistical office of the European Union (EU), retail trade remained stable for the EU at the same time. Meanwhile, retail trade in July experienced 1.7 percent year on year decrease in the eurozone and 0.2 percent rise in the EU. Among components of retail trade, food, drinks and tobacco fell 0.9 percent in the eurozone and up by 0.6 percent in the EU on a monthly base. The non food sector rose by 0.9 percent in the eurozone and 0.7 percent in the EU respectively. With respect to annual changes, food, drinks and tobacco fell by 1.7 percent in the eurozone and by 0.8 percent in the EU. The non food sector fell by 1.0 percent in the eurozone but rose by 1.2 percent in the EU. The report shows that among member nations, 11 saw month-on-month increase and seven saw decrease, while Denmark and Finland remained stable. The largest decrease occurred in Spain (-1.9 percent), Malta and Austria (-1.7 percent), while the highest increases were observed in Latvia (2.7 percent), Ireland (1.7 percent) and Poland (1.6 percent).