The drop was the steepest this year, partly reflecting base effects. In a month-on-month comparison, retail sales edged down 0.4% in November, similar to October, according to seasonally- and calendar year-adjusted data. Retail sales have contracted in a twelve-month comparison and have dropped or levelled out month-on-month every month since April 2012.
Sales of food, drinks and tobacco dropped a calendar-adjusted 2.0% yr/yr and slipped a seasonally- and calendar-adjusted 0.4% from October. Sales of non-food products were down 7.7% from a year earlier and dropped 1.1% in a month, adjusted data show.
Sales of clothing and shoes fell by an adjusted 7.0% yr/yr, sales of furniture and electrical products were down 12.2% and sales of books and computer equipment dropped 8.7%, all dropping more than in October and contracting 1-2% on the month. But pharmaceuticals sales rose a steep 4.1% yr/yr and 3.0% m/m. Sales of second-hand shops rose 0.7% yr/yr and fell m/m after two months of steep rises. Mail order and internet sales jumped 23.6% yr/yr.
Sales of vehicle fuel were down 1.1% yr/yr but rose 2.0% from October according to adjusted data. Vehicle fuel sales were down 3.0% yr/yr
Retail sales dropped 2.0% in January-November from the same period a year earlier. They rose a slight 0.3% in 2011 after contracting each year between 2007 and 2010.
In absolute terms, retail sales reached HUF 691.9 billion at current prices in November, dropping HUF 48.5 billion from October. In January-November, retails sales came to HUF 7,415.5 billion. Vehicle and vehicle parts sales, which are not part of the EU retail statistics, were down 6.2% yr/yr in November, and contracted 2.5% yr/yr in the first eleven months.