Luxembourg, 10/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to data released on Tuesday by Eurostat, the volume of retail trade fell by 0.5% in the eurozone and rose by 0.6% in the European Union as a whole (EU15) in the month of 2001 on the month of October in 2000. Sales fell by 1.1% in the eurozone and 0.8% in EU15 compared with the month of September 2001.
Comparing October 2001 with October 2000, retail trade in the food, drinks and tobacco sector rose by 0.1% in the eurozone and by 0.9% in EU15. The non-food sector fell by 0.5% in the eurozone and rose by 1.0% in EU15.
In the non-food sector, sales of textiles, clothing and footwear fell by 4.2% in the eurozone and 2.2% in EU15, while household goods rose by 0.1% and 2.0% respectively. Sales volumes fell by 4.0% in Belgium, 2.6% in Austria, 2.3% in Italy and 1.9% in Portugal.
Positive growth was recorded in Ireland (6.3%), Luxembourg, 5.7%), the United Kingdom (5.4%) and Finland (4.9%).
In terms of monthly variation (in other words from September 2001 to October 2001), food sales fell by 0.3% in the eurozone and 0.1% in EU15. Non-food sales also fell, by 1.1% in the eurozone and 0.6% in EU15. Falls were recorded across the board in the non-food sector apart from household goods where a rise of 0.4% was recorded in the euroeonze and 0.6% in EU15. The textile, clothing and footwear sector fell by 1.6% in the eurozone and 2.4% in EU15. Sales volumes rose in Ireland (by 1.4%), Luxembourg (0.4%), the UK (0.3%) and Spain (0.1%). Sales volumes fell in Belgium (-4.4%), Portugal (-3.8%), Austria (-3.2%), Denmark (-2.5%), Germany (-1.7%), Sweden (-0.6%), Finland (-0.5%), the Netherlands (-0.4%) and Italy (-0.3%).