Adjusted for calendar year and seasonal effects, retail sales fell 0.4% in July after remaining practically unchanged for two consecutive months.

January-July retail sales were down 1.3% from a year earlier according to calendar-adjusted figures as sales volume fell yr/yr in five of the seven months. The two months with a yr/yr rise were January and March.

Retail sales in Hungary rose a calendar-adjusted 0.3% in 2011 after steady drops between 2007 and 2010.

In nominal terms, retail sales were worth HUF 731.3 billion in July, up HUF 43.9 billion in a month, and up HUF 32 billion from a year earlier.

Sales of shops selling food, drink and tobacco fell a calendar-adjusted 2.4% yr/yr in July and rose 0.2% in January-July. They fell a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 0.9% from June. They rose at a 0.2%-0.3% monthly pace in nine of the past twelve months. The other three months showed decreases between 0.2-1.1%.

Sales of non-food products fell 2.5% yr/yr and rose 0.1% on the month in July, the adjusted figures show. January-July non-food sales were down 2.1% yr/yr. The monthly rise followed drops in three consecutive months.

Within non-food sales, pharmaceuticals and medical goods sales rose 0.3% yr/yr in July in the first rise since last December, and were still down 5.5% yr/yr in January-July. They rose 5.0% from a month earlier.

Sales of furniture and electrical goods fell 8.1% yr/yr and fell 0.1% in a month, the adjusted figures show. January-July sales in the product group wee down 8.3% yr/yr.

Fuel sales continued to decline in a year-on-year comparison, and were down 2.0% in July and 2.8% in January-July. But they rose a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 2.2% month-on-month after rising 0.7% in June following four months of monthly decline.

Car and car part sales, which, in line with EU methodology, are not part of the retail statistics, were down 2.4% yr/yr in July and were up 1.3% yr/yr in the first seven months, KSH reported. 2011 car and car part sales were down 4.5% from 2010.