Sales of non-food products and fuels contribute to 6.6 pct growth in retail trade, in January

The retail turnover (except for motor vehicles and motorcycles) increased by 6.6 per cent, gross series, in January 2019, against the same month the previous year, due to positive results recorded in sales of non-food products, fuels and food stuffs, beverages and tobacco, shows data published on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) according to Agerpres.

According to the statistics, the retail turnover, as series adjusted depending on the number of business days and seasonality, increased by 6.1 per cent against the same month last year.

In January 2019 versus January 2018, retail trade (except for motor vehicles and motorcycles), recorded a growth of 6.6 per cent, as gross series, due to the sales of non food products (+9.4 per cent), retail sales of fuels for motor vehicles in specialized stores (+5.8 per cent) and sales of food products, beverages and tobacco (+4.3 per cent).

Also, as series adjusted depending on the number of business days and seasonality, in the margin of the growth recorded in the volume of turnover for retail, the sales of non-food products registered a leap of 8.3 per cent, the retail trade of fuels for motor vehicles in specialized stores - 5.7 per cent, and sales of food, beverages and tobacco - 4.7 per cent.

In January 2019, compared with December 2018, the turnover for retail trade, as gross series, in January 2019, compared with the previous month, decreased overall by 22.9 per cent, as a result of drops in sales of non-food products (-25.3 per cent), sales of food products, beverages and tobacco (-24.3 per cent) and retail trade of automotive fuel in specialized stores (-15 per cent).

At the same time, in the same period, the turnover volume of retail trade (excluding trade in motor vehicles and motorcycles), as series adjusted according to the working days and seasonality, increased by 1.9 per cent due to the activities of retail trade of automotive fuel in specialized stores (+ 3.6 per cent) and sales of non-food products (+ 3.5 per cent). On the other hand, sales of food, beverages and tobacco fell by 0.2 per cent in January this year compared to the last month of 2018