The volume of retail trade in the EU rose in February 2021 the most in Belgium, Austria and Croatia, while on average Europeans shopped less, shows a Eurostat report released on Monday.

In February 2021, the volume of retail trade in the EU dropped by 2.2% compared to February 2020. In January it was down 4.5%. The euro area, too, saw a year-on-year drop in the volume of retail trade of 2.9%, after a 5.2% drop in January. In both the EU and the euro area the volume of retail trade dropped the most for automotive fuels, by 11.9% and 13% respectively.

The volume of retail trade for non-food products dropped significantly as well, by 4% in the EU and by 5.5% in the euro area, the exception being the volume of trade for mail and internet orders, which jumped by 37.9% in the EU and by 37.3% in the euro area.

In February Europeans bought more only food, drinks and tobacco products, as evidenced by a year-on-year increase of the volume of retail trade of 1.8% in the EU and 1.9% in the euro area.

Belgium, Austria, Croatia report highest increases

Among the countries whose statistics were available to Eurostat, Portugal saw the biggest year-on-year drop in the volume of retail trade, of 15.4%. It was followed by Slovakia and Malta with declines of 14.7% and 8.9% respectively.

The biggest year-on-year increase in the volume of retail trade was reported by Belgium, of 11%, followed by Austria, with an increase of 5.2% and Croatia, an increase of 5.1%. In January 2021 Croatia saw a year-on-year 0.9% increase in the volume of retail trade.

Signs of recovery

The seasonally-adjusted volume of retail trade in the EU grew in February by 2.9% compared to January, when it dropped by 4.6%. In the euro area it went up by 3% from January, when it dropped by 5.2%.

The volume of retail trade for non-food products grew the most in both the EU and the euro area, by 6.2% and 6.8% respectively, after it went down at the start of the year.

The volume of retail trade for automotive fuels recovered as well, by 2.4% in the EU and 3.7% in the euro area.

The volume of retail trade dropped on the month only for food and tobacco products and drinks, by 0.8% in the EU and 1.1% in the euro area.

Among the countries whose statistics were available to Eurostat, the biggest monthly increase in the volume of retail trade was reported by Austria, of 28.2%.

It was followed by Slovenia and Italy, with a 16.4% and an 8.4% increase in the volume of retail trade.

In Croatia the volume of retail trade in February grew 4.4% from January, when it rose by 3.4%.

Monthly drops in the volume of retail trade were reported by Malta (-1.5%), France (-1.2%), Hungary (-1.2%), Portugal (-0.7) and Finland (-0.4).