Malta fares badly in retail trade figures

Malta had the worse retail trade figures in the EU in October when compared to October 2013, according to data issued by Eurostat this morning.

The data agency said that the volume of  retail trade was up by 0.4% in the euro area and by 0.7% in the EU28 when compared to September.

Retail trade sales in October compared to October 2013 were up by 1,4% in the euro area and by 2.0% in the EU 28.

Among Member States for which data was available, the highest increases in total retail trade by month were registered in Finland (+2.7%), Germany and the United Kingdom (both +1.9%), Latvia and Slovakia (both +1.5%), and the
largest decreases in Slovenia (-1.9%), Portugal (-1.6%) and Austria (-1.2%).

In the annual comparison, The 1.4% increase in the volume of retail trade in the
euro area in October 2014, compared with October 2013, was due to rises of 2.9% for automotive fuel, of 2.1% for the non-food sector and of 0.4% for “Food, drinks and tobacco”.

In the EU28, the 2.0% increase in retail trade is due to rises of 3.1% for the non-food sector, of 1.7% for automotive fuel and of 0.9% for “Food, drinks and tobacco”.

Among Member States for which data are available, the highest increases in total retail trade were observed in Luxembourg(+12.5%), Estonia (+6.9%) and Slovakia (+6.5%), while decreases were observed in Malta (-3.7%) and Slovenia
(-0.1%).