In May 2012 compared with April 2012, the volume of retail trade1 rose by 0.6% in both the euro area2 (EA17) and the EU272. In April3 retail trade fell by 1.4% in both zones.

In May 20124, compared with May 2011, the retail sales index dropped by 1.7% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU27.

These first estimates come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Monthly comparison

In May 2012, compared with April 2012, “Food, drinks and tobacco” increased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU27. The non food sector rose by 1.0% and 0.9% respectively.

Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade rose in sixteen, remained unchanged in Denmark and fell in four. The highest increases were registered in Austria (+3.1%), Portugal (+2.9%), Latvia (+2.1%), Finland (+1.9%) and Ireland (+1.7%). The decreases were observed in Poland (-1.3%), Slovenia
(-1.0%), Bulgaria and Germany (both -0.3%).

Annual comparison

In May 2012, compared with May 2011, “Food, drinks and tobacco” decreased by 1.1% in the euro area and by 0.4% in the EU27. The non food sector fell by 1.5% in the euro area, but rose by 0.5% in the EU27.

Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade rose in twelve and fell in nine. The highest increases were observed in Estonia (+10.4%), Latvia (+7.4%) and Romania (+5.9%) and the largest decreases in Malta (-7.3%), Portugal (-5.1%) and Spain (-4.8%).

1. Based on data adjusted for working days and seasonal effects.

As announced in the News Release 19/2012 of 3 February 2012, the seasonal adjustment method has been revised in order to improve the consistency between European and national aggregates. The seasonally adjusted euro area and EU series are calculated by aggregating the seasonally adjusted national data. Eurostat carries out the seasonal adjustment of the data for those countries that do not adjust their data for seasonal effects. See annex of News Release 19/2012 for further information.

The weights of the Member States in the EU and euro area aggregates can be found at:

http://circa.europa.eu/Public/irc/dsis/ebt/library?l=/sts_weights_public...

More detailed data can be found in the short-term statistics database on the Eurostat website:

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/short_term_business_...

1. The euro area (EA17) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.

The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).

1. Data of previous months have been revised compared to those issued in the News Release 84/2012 of 5 June 2012. The monthly growth rates for April 2012 have been revised from -1.0% to -1.4% in the EA17 and from -1.1% to -1.4% in the EU27. The annual growth rates have been revised from -2.5% to -3.4% in the EA17 and from -1.9% to -2.4% in the EU27.

2. Based on data adjusted for working days.

04 July 2012