Romania - second in EU by October's retail trade growth

The volume of Romania's retail trade increased by 8.7 percent in October 2016 compared to the same month of the year before, making this the second month in a row when Romania's performance is surpassed only by Luxembourg in the EU ranking by retail trade growth, shows data released by the European Statistical Office (Eurostat).

In the euro area, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 2.4 percent in October 2016 compared with October 2015, and by 3.5 percent in the EU28 quotes Agerpress.

The YoY advance in the euro area was the effect of the 3.3 percent rise in sales of non-food products, of the 2.1 percent growth in sales of food, drinks and tobacco and of the 0.7 percent growth in sales of automotive fuel. In the EU28, the 3.5 percent increase in the retail trade volume is due to the 4.9 percent rise in sales of non-food products, the 2.5 percent growth is sales of food, drinks and tobacco, and of the 1.7 percent advance in for automotive fuel sales.

Among member states for which data are available, the highest monthly increases in the total retail trade volume were registered in Slovenia (+3.7 percent), Luxembourg (+2.9 percent), Germany (+2.4 percent) and the United Kingdom (+2.0 percent).

Romania's National Institute of Statistics announced that compared to the previous month, October's retail turnover (except for trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles) was down 0.2 percent as raw series and up 0.5 pct expressed as workday and seasonally adjusted series, respectively. In a YoY comparison, October's retail turnover (except for trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles) was up 7.9 percent as raw series, and 10 percent expressed as workday and seasonally adjusted series.