Tuba Sahin
05 February 2020•Update: 05 February 2020
ANKARA
The euro area retail trade volume rose 2.2% year-on-year in 2019, said the EU's statistical office on Wednesday.
The figure also saw a rise of 2.4% on average in the EU27 during the same period, Eurostat said.
The eurozone/euro area represents member states that use the single currency – euro – while the EU27 includes all member countries of the bloc.
In December 2019, the calendar-adjusted retail sales index climbed 1.3% in the euro area and 1.9% in the EU27 versus same month previous year.
In the euro area, "the volume of retail trade increased by 3.6% for non-food products while food, drinks and tobacco decreased by 0.7% and automotive fuel by 3.7%," Eurostat said.
The retail trade volume in the EU28 went up 4% for non-food products, and fell 0.3% for food, drinks, and tobacco.
Among member states for which data are available, Romania (8.5%) posted the highest rise in the total retail trade volume, followed by Hungary (+6.1%) and Malta (+5.6%), the statistical office said.
"The largest decreases were observed in Slovenia (-6.6%), Slovakia (-2.5%), and Finland (-1.6%)," it added.
