Seasonally-adjusted retail trade volumes fell by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.4% across the European Union in July 2026, compared to the previous month, according to estimated data from Eurostat.
This follows on from a monthly increase of 0.2% in both the euro area and EU in June.
Despite the July fall, retail trade remained above its level a year earlier, with volumes 0.6% higher in the euro area and 1.0% higher in the EU compared with July 2025.
Sector declines
The decline was concentrated in non-food retailing and automotive fuel, the data showed. In the euro area, the volume of retail sales of food, drinks and tobacco increased by 0.4% during July. Sales of non-food products, excluding automotive fuel, fell by 1.4%, while automotive fuel sales decreased by 0.8%.
Across the EU, food, drinks and tobacco sales increased by 0.3%, while non-food products excluding fuel declined by 1.1%. Automotive fuel sales fell by 1.1%. The figures therefore show that food retailing provided some support to overall sales, but this was outweighed by declines in other parts of the retail sector.
On a country-by-country basis, Germany recorded a 3.4% monthly fall in retail trade volume. Spain recorded a decline of 0.9%, while Italy and Poland each fell by 0.3%. At the other end of the scale, Latvia recorded an increase of 2.5%, Cyprus rose by 2.0% and Luxembourg by 1.8%.
The highest annual increases in retail trade volume were recorded in Cyprus (+8.6%), Latvia (+7.1%) and Sweden (+6.4%). At the other end of the scale, decreases were observed in Romania (-5.7%), Germany (-2.5%), Italy (-1.0%) and Spain (-0.7%), Eurostat‘s data showed. Read more here.
