Croatia saw the biggest month-on-month increase in retail sales by volume in the European Union in July 2024, posting a 2.9% increase, according to the latest data from Eurostat.
Other countries to see a notable month-on-month increase in volume sales include Austria, where sales rose 1.8%, Slovakia, where sales also rose 1.8%), Slovenia (+1.6%), Belgium (+1.4%) and Lithuania (+1.4%).
At the other end of the spectrum, countries to report a month-on-month decrease included Luxembourg (-2.1%), Romania (-1.8%), Cyprus (-1.1%), Portugal (-0.8%) and Finland (-0.5%). No data was available for Czechia, Germany, Greece and Italy.
Across the EU, seasonally adjusted retail trade volumes increased by 0.2% in July, compared to June, and by 0.1% in the euro area.
The volume of sales increased for food, drinks, tobacco, by 0.5%, increased for non-food products (except automotive fuel), by 0.2%, and decreased for automotive fuel in specialised stores, by 1.4%, Eurostat noted.
Retail sales volumes on an annual basis
On an annual basis, retail volume sales saw a slight increase of 0.4% in the EU, while the euro area experienced a minor decline of 0.1%.
Luxembourg recorded the highest annual growth in retail trade volumes at +10.3%, followed by Croatia (+7.9%) and Bulgaria (+6.8%). On the other hand, the largest declines were observed in Belgium (-4.4%), Estonia (-3.1%), and Finland (-2.1%).
‘Disappointing’ sales performance
Commenting on the data, Bert Colijn, senior economist, eurozone, at ING, noted that euro zone retail sales are “continuing to flatline”, with third-quarter sales so far disappointing.
“The economy isn’t showing signs of further acceleration after a surprisingly strong first half year. In fact, it looks like the economy is slightly decelerating at the moment,” he said. “This would make for a disappointing recovery after a long period of stagnation.
“The first hard data for the quarter are today’s retail sales figures and they are not particularly encouraging. Retail sales have been slowly bottoming out after a large post-pandemic correction, but there is no evidence yet of a real recovery.”
Month-on-month retail sales volumes in European Union (%)
| Croatia | 2.9% |
| Austria | 1.8% |
| Slovakia | 1.8% |
| Slovenia | 1.6% |
| Belgium | 1.4% |
| Lithuania | 1.4% |
| Bulgaria | 1.2% |
| Netherlands | 1.2% |
| Poland | 1.2% |
| Estonia | 0.6% |
| Ireland | 0.6% |
| Latvia | 0.6% |
| Spain | 0.5% |
| Sweden | 0.2% |
| Denmark | 0.1% |
| France | 0.1% |
| Hungary | 0.0% |
| Malta | 0.0% |
| Finland | -0.5% |
| Portugal | -0.8% |
| Cyprus | -1.1% |
| Romania | -1.8% |
| Luxembourg | -2.1% |
| Czechia | n/a |
| Germany | n/a |
| Greece | n/a |
| Italy | n/a |
