The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) confirmed on Monday its first estimate of a real increase in retail trade turnover in July of this year by 4.5 percent year-on-year, marking the 23rd consecutive month of consumption growth.
DZS announced that retail trade turnover, generated by all business entities engaged in this activity regardless of their primary activity, nominally increased by 2 percent and real growth was 4.5 percent in July compared to the same month last year, according to seasonally adjusted data.
In addition to the fact that retail trade turnover increased for the 23rd consecutive month in July, which has not been recorded since DZS began tracking these data, this also represents a faster growth than the previous month, when consumption rose by 2.8 percent year-on-year. In fact, since September 2014, when the uninterrupted series of positive annual rates began, a higher growth of 4.6 percent was recorded only in July of last year.
On a monthly basis, compared to June of this year, July recorded a real monthly growth of 2 percent and a nominal growth of 1.6 percent in retail trade turnover, according to seasonally and calendar-adjusted indices.
When viewed by trade sectors, according to original unadjusted indices, retail trade turnover in textiles, clothing, footwear, and leather products grew the most year-on-year by 9.7 percent in July, while retail turnover in computer equipment, books and newspapers, games and toys, etc., increased by a slightly lower 9.3 percent.
In non-specialized stores predominantly selling food products, which have the largest share of 41.4 percent in retail trade turnover, turnover in July of this year increased by 1.7 percent compared to the same month last year, while retail turnover in motor fuels and lubricants (with a share of 18.7 percent) decreased by 6.5 percent.
