Eurozone Retail Sales Fall More Than Forecast

(RTTNews) - Eurozone retail sales declined more than expected in December due to the fall in non-food product turnover, official data showed Thursday.

Retail sales fell 0.5 percent month-on-month in December, marking the first fall in four months, Eurostat said. The decline followed November's 0.1 percent rise. Sales were forecast to drop 0.2 percent.

Sales of food, drinks, tobacco edged up 0.1 percent, while non-food product sales declined 1.2 percent. At the same time, automotive fuel in specialized stores remained flat in December.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth eased more-than-expected to 1.3 percent in December from 2.4 percent in November. The expected pace of increase was 1.6 percent.

In the EU27, retail sales dropped 0.5 percent from November but increased 1.7 percent from the previous year.

Among member states of the EU, the largest monthly decreases in the total retail trade volume were recorded in Portugal, Sweden and Denmark. Meanwhile, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Croatia reported the largest increases.

The annual average level of retail trade volume for the year 2025 increased 2.3 percent in both the euro area and the EU, data showed.