Estonian retail sales continued to decline in April largely driven by a notable drop in the sales of manufactured goods.
Retail sales in goods declined 9% year-on-year in April at constant prices, at the same pace as in March, the Statistics Estonia said Monday. Since the beginning of the year, the fall in retail sales has been relatively stable compared to the same month of the previous year, the agency noted. The fall in trade was mostly influenced by an 11% annual drop in sales in stores selling manufactured goods, though the decline slowed from the previous month.
In April, retail sales of goods of retail trade enterprises were EEK 4.4 billion. On an annual basis, the sales decreased in most of the economic activities, except sales in food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores and the retail sales of pharmaceutical goods and cosmetics.
The low reference base in 2009 contributed to the growth in sales of food, beverages and tobacco in specialized stores. Sales growth in these stores does not significantly influence the retail sales of goods of retail trade enterprises, because the share of this economic activity was only 3% in April 2010.
The agency found that retail sales recovered considerably in stores selling household goods and appliances, hardware and building materials. In these stores, retail sales of goods decreased by a fifth during the year, while in March, the decline was nearly 30%.
Compared to the previous month, retail sales increased 2% at constant prices in April. According to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data, retail sales stayed at the same level compared to March. In stores selling manufactured goods, retail sales increased 1% monthly.
In April, revenue from retail trade enterprises was EEK 5.4 billion, out of which retail sales of goods accounted for 82%. Compared to April of the previous year, revenues from sales decreased 3% at current prices and the indicator rose 2% month-on-month.
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