According to the EU statistical agency Eurostat, retail sales in the eurozone countries decreased by 0.5% in July compared with June. This was the most significant drop since August 2023. Analysts had expected a more moderate decrease of 0.2%. At the same time, the revised data for June showed an increase of 0.6% instead of the previously announced 0.3%. By product category, sales of food, beverages and tobacco products fell by 1.1% in July. Sales of motor fuel also decreased by 1.7%. At the same time, sales of non–food products (excluding fuel) increased slightly by 0.2%. On an annual basis, retail sales in the eurozone increased by 2.2% after a revised 3.5% increase in June. Experts predicted an increase of 2.4%. In the European Union as a whole, retail sales in July decreased by 0.4% compared to the previous month, but showed an increase of 2.4% by July 2024. The best results among EU countries were recorded in Lithuania (+1.5%) and Latvia (+1.4%), while the worst were in Croatia, where sales fell by 4%.
