Romania recorded in January the fourth largest increase in retail sales in the European Union (EU) of 7.3% compared to the same month last year, being surpassed by Luxembourg, Hungary and Poland, according to data presented on Wednesday by Eurostat.
At EU level, retail trade rose by 4% in January as compared to the same month in 2014, due to higher sales of fuel and food products, while compared to December last year, the advance was of 0 8%.
The 3.7% increase in the volume of retail trade in the euro area in January 2015, compared with January 2014, is due to rises of 6.1% for automotive fuel, of 5.0% for the non-food sector and of 2.2% for “Food, drinks and tobacco”.
In the EU28, the 4.0% increase in retail trade is due to rises of 5.6% for automotive fuel, of 5.4% for the non-food sector and of 2.4% for “Food, drinks and tobacco”.
Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in total retail trade were observed in Luxembourg (+10.7%), Hungary (+8.2%), Poland (+ 7.5%) and Romania (+7.3%) , while the only decreases were observed in Finland (-1.2%) and Belgium (-0.3%).