In terms of volume, retail sales decreased by 2.7% in April 2012 and by 0.7% in the first four months. Retail shops, mail order houses and online sales generated HUF 676 billion of sales in April and HUF 2434 billion of sales in the first four months of 2012. Year-on-year, the volume of sales in food, drinks and tobacco stores fell by 1.8% in April and rose by 0.8% in the first four months of 2012. Year-on-year, the turnover of non-food retail trade – at constant prices – decreased by 3.6% in April and by 0.9% in the first four months of 2012. In April, a sharper decrease was seen in furniture and electrical goods stores as well as in pharmaceutical and medical goods shops. Books, computer equipment and other specialized stores and non-specialized stores saw an above average decrease.
At the same time, April saw a continuation in the dynamic increase of mail order and internet sales, furthermore a year-on-year increase was seen in cosmetics articles, textiles, clothing and footwear shops as well as in second hand shops. In April, sales in petrol stations continued to decrease as a result of an ongoing rise in fuel prices. Sales declined by 3.2% in April and by 3.0% in the first four months of 2012. Month-on-month, retail sales decreased by a seasonal and calendar adjusted 1.0% in volume. Sales declined by 1.0%, 1.0% and 1.2% in food, drinks and tobacco stores, petrol stations as well as in the non-food retail trade respectively.
According to the Eurostat’s press release of June 05 – based on calendar-adjusted data – retail sales fell by 1.9% in volume in the 27 member states of the European Union and by 2.5% in the Eurozone yearon-year. According to available data which do not cover all countries, nine states showed an increase and thirteen a fall. Out of the most significant countries of the region, Germany and France showed increases (1.3% and 0.6% respectively), while the United Kingdom a decrease (0.3%) in the volume of retail sales. Hungary was below the average of EU-27.
In Hungary, sales volumes for motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts and accessories stores – not regarded as retailing by the European Statistical System – decreased by 3.7% in April and rose by 2.3% in the first four months of 2012 year-on-year.
