Luxembourg, 04/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to estimated published on Thursday by Eurostat, the volume of retail trade increased by 0.7% in the eurozone and 1.5% in the European Union as a whole (EU15) in January 2002 compared with January 2001. The retail trade of "food, drinks and tobacco" rose by 0.8% in the eurozone and 1.3% in EU15. The decrease of sales of food in specialised stores continued, this time by 1.8% in the EU15, while sales in non specialised stores in the same area increased by 2.2%. The non-food sector decreased in the eurozone by 0.2% but gained 1.0% in the EU15. Among the non-food sectors, "textiles, clothing and footwear" fell by 0.2% in the eurozone but increased by 1.1% in the EU15, and "household goods" fell by 1.7% in the eurozone and remained stable in the EU15.
Dividing the statistics up by Member State, the volume of retail trade decreased in Belgium (-4.7%), Portugal (-4.3%), Germany (-1.5%), the Netherlands (-1.2%) and Finland (-0.1%). Positive growth rates were observed in Spain (7.9%), United Kingdom (4.8%), Sweden (2.0%), Italy (2.0%) and Ireland (0.5%).
Over one month (ie compared with December 2001), retail sails rose by 0.6% in the eurozone and 0.3% in EU15 across all sectors except the index for "household goods, which was unchanged in the eurozone, but fell by 0.4% in the EU15. Sweden and Spain recorded sharp rises (2% and 1.3% respectively), with Ireland and Belgium recording the sharpest falls (-4.3% and -3.4% respectively).