Turnover in European retail trade stabilized in November, after recording a drop in October. Croatia was among EU countries with the largest drop on record, the state news platform Hina said on Monday, citing a publicly available report by Eurostat.

In November 2022, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade increased by 0.8 percent in the euro zone and by 0.9 percent in the EU, compared with October 2022.. In October 2022, the retail trade volume had decreased by 1.5 percent in the euro zone and by 1.4 percent in the EU, Eurostat reported.

Month-on-month, the volume of retail trade in the euro zone increased by 1.6 percent for non-food products and by 1.0 percent for automotive fuels, while it decreased by 0.9 percent for food, drinks and tobacco. In the EU, the volume of retail trade increased by 1.6 percent for non-food products and by 0.8 percent for automotive fuels, while it decreased by 0.6 percent for food, drinks and tobacco.

The highest month-on-month increase in total retail trade volume was registered in Spain (+3.6 percent), Poland (+2.6 percent) and Sweden (+2.3 percent). The largest drops were recorded in Luxembourg (-2.0 percent), France and Croatia (both -1.0 percent) and Slovenia (-0.5 percent).

Year-on-year, retail trade in the EU fell by 2.4 percent in November, and by 2.8 percent in the euro zone. In October, it had decreased by 2.3 percent in the EU and by 2.6 percent in the euro zone, according to revised Eurostat data.

The year-on-year drop was the largest in Denmark (-7.4 percent). Belgium and Germany followed with drops of -6.0 percent and -5.7 percent.

In Croatia, retail trade in November fell by 5.4 percent compared to the same month the year before, according to Eurostat. In October, it had decreased by 5.1 percent on the year. Almost the same decline was recorded in November by Germany.

Latvia recorded the highest annual increase in the volume of retail trade, at 10.7 percent. Slovenia and Poland followed with increases of 7.5 percent and 5.7 percent respectively.