Romania Dec Retail Sales See Biggest Monthly Decline In EU

The eastern European country’s retail trade dropped 5.7% on the month in December, while trade in the EU bloc inched down 0.1% on the month, EU’s statistics agency Eurostat said.

Year-on-year, Romanian retail sales fell 7.4% in December 2009, the eighth largest decline among Member States. In the EU bloc, retail sales declined by 1% compared with December 2008.

Compared with November 2009, total retail trade in December last year rose in twelve EU countries for which data were available and fell in seven. The highest monthly increases were recorded in Austria (+1.6%) and France (+1.2%), while the largest decreases in Romania, Malta (-5.6%) and Portugal (-2.8%).

On the year, retail trade in the EU bloc rose in seven countries and fell in twelve. Poland saw the biggest annual increase in retail sales in December, of 4.6%, followed by Sweden (+3.1%) and Austria (+2.7%), while the largest decreases were observed in Latvia (-30.2%), Lithuania (-27.2%) and Estonia (-16.4%).

Romanian adjusted retail sales fell 10.4% on the year in 2009, on declines in all sectors, the country’s statistics institute said earlier Wednesday. In December 2009 alone, adjusted retail sales decreased 5.6% compared with the month earlier, driven broadly by a two-digit decline of non-food sales.