Retail sales maintain double-digit annual growth in Romania in September

Romania’s retail trade turnover went up by 13.7% in September compared to the same month of 2016, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INS). The increase was mainly supported by the non-food retail, which went up by 17.3% year-on-year. Food, beverage, and tobacco sales increased by 11.1% and fuel sales grew by 11.2%. However, the annual increase in retail sales was lower in September compared to the previous month, when it reached 15.9%. In fact, the retail sector declined by almost 5% in September when compared to August, in gross terms, mainly due to a 10% drop in fuel sales as a result of new taxes. However, the adjusted series according to the number of working days and to seasonality shows a 0.5% increase of the retail trade turnover in September compared to August. In seasonally adjusted terms, fuels sales went down by 2.3% month-on-month. In the first nine months of this year, the retail trade turnover increased by 9.8% over the same period of 2016. editor@romania-insider.com