Brussels – Two-speed retail trade: decreases in the Eurozone and increases in the European Union as a whole. This was revealed by Eurostat in the monthly bulletin relating to December 2011 data. In the last month of last year, the volume of retail trade recorded a -0,4% on a monthly basis within the Euro area, while it recorded a + 0,3% in the Europe of 27. In the month of reference, trade in the chapters on food, beverages and tobacco (-0,2%) and non-food products (-0,1%) in the euro area recorded a slight decline, while the same items recorded a +0,3% in the EU.
The contractions of Slovenia (-3,1%), Malta (-3,1%), Luxembourg (-1,4%), Germany (-1,4%) and Finland (-1 %). France is also bad (-0,3%). On the other hand, the performances of Portugal (+2,2%) and Belgium (+1,5%) were good. Balances unchanged for Sweden and Ireland.
