What country saw the biggest increase in retail sales in April 2024?

Bulgaria and Romania saw the biggest increase in retail sales volumes in the European Union in April 2024, with both countries seeing a 9.8% increase, year-on-year.

Other countries to see a high year-on-year increase in retail sales volumes for the month included Croatia (+8.6%) and Slovakia (+8.6%), as well as Luxembourg (+7.3%), the Eurostat data showed.

The biggest decreases, meanwhile, were observed in Poland (-7.3%), Belgium (-5.8%) and Estonia (-4.9%).

Year-on-year sales

Overall, on a year-on-year basis, the volume of retail trade decreased by 0.1%.

Volume sales for food, drinks and tobacco decrease by 0.1%, while volume sales for non-food products (except automotive fuel) increased by 0.1%. Automotive fuel sales in specialised stores remained stable.

Month-on-month sales

On a month-on-month basis, meanwhile, the volume of retail trade decreased by 0.6% in the EU.

Food, drinks and tobacco saw a volume decline of 0.9%, non-food products (except automotive fuel) were stable, and automotive fuel in specialised stores decreased by 2.0%

The highest increases in retail sales on a month-on-month basis were in Slovakia (+2.4%), Bulgaria and Austria (both +1.9%) and Portugal (+1.7%), while Latvia (-3.3%), Cyprus (-3.1%) and Denmark (-2.7%) saw the biggest declines.

The index of the volume of retail trade measures the turnover in retail trade, adjusted for price changes, reflecting the total amount of goods sold. This index, adjusted for calendar and seasonal effects, provides a clear picture of underlying trends in retail activity.

Seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series aggregate the national data, accurately representing the overall retail trade volume across member states.

Increase in retail sales volumes, year-on-year (April 2024)