European Union retail trade recovered in December after a fall in November, and Croatia followed the trend, the EU statistical office Eurostat said on Tuesday.

In November 2019, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade in the EU increased by 0.6 percent, compared with October 2019, when it decreased by 0.2 percent according to revised Eurostat data.

In the euro area, the volume of retail trade increased by 1 percent, after a revised 0.3 percent fall in October.

The volume of retail trade for food products increased by 0.9 percent in the EU and by 1.4 percent in the euro area, making it the largest increase. The only decrease was observed in sales of automotive fuels, which decreased by 0.8 percent in the EU and by 1 percent in the euro area.

Among member states for which data were available, the highest increases in the total retail trade volume were registered in Poland (+3.3 percent), followed by Belgium (+2.7 percent) and Latvia (+2.6 percent).

The largest decreases were observed in the United Kingdom (-1.7 percent), Ireland (-0.9 percent), and Finland (-0.5 percent).

In Croatia, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade increased by 2.3 percent in November compared with October, when it decreased by 0.1 percent. Compared with November 2018, retail trade rose by 3.9%.