Brussels, 05/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - The volume of retail trade in March 2006 compared with March 2005 fell by 0.2% in the eurozone, but rose by 0.7% in the EU25. Compared to February 2006, the retail sales index dropped by 0.8% in the eurozone and by 0.3% in the EU25. In March 2006 compared with March 2005, the retail trade of “food, drinks and tobacco” fell by 0.9% in the eurozone but gained 0.2% in the EU25. The non-food sector increased by 0.5% and 1.3% respectively. Among Member States, total retail trade rose in Latvia (+16.8%), Estonia (+12.6%), Lithuania (+10.6%) and Slovakia, but fell in Belgium (-2.7%), Portugal (-2.4%), Germany (-2.2%) and Austria (-1.2%). In March 2006 compared with February 2006, “food, drinks and tobacco” fell by 1.0% in the eurozone and by 0.5% in the EU25. The non food sector decreased by 0.5% in the eurozone and remained stable in the EU25. Among Member States, total retail trade increased in Estonia (+2.2%), Belgium (+2.0%), Finland (+1.7%), Denmark (+1.6%), Latvia (+1.4%), Slovakia (+1.3%), Lithuania (1.0%), the United Kingdom (+0.7%), Spain (+0.4%) and Cyprus (+0.2%), while falls were recorded in Germany (-2.7%), Portugal (-1.9%), Austria (-1.4%), Poland (-0.6%) and Sweden (-0.2%).