Press Release 07/05/2013
Sales in the retail trade sector of the Basque Country dropped by 2.3% in the first quarter of 2013
With regards to the previous quarter, the sales index registered a nominal increase of 0.4%
The retail trade sector of the Basque Country registered a 2.3% drop in nominal sales in the first quarter of 2013 with regards to the same period of the previous year, according to data provided by Eustat. Sales in the sector, not including service stations, were down by 2.8% in year-on-year terms.
With respect to the previous quarter, the sales index was up a nominal 0.4%, once any seasonal effects had been eliminated.
By sectors, food products registered a drop of 1.6% in nominal sales in the first quarter of 2013, retail trade of other products saw a fall of 3.7% and sales of automotive fuel rose by 0.6%, all with regards to same period in 2012.
In the retail food sector, specialised trade was up by 2.2%, as non-specialised trade in mainly food products fell by 4.1%. In retail trade of other products there was a rise in specialised trade of other consumer goods (15.1%) and decreases of varying intensity in the rest of the sectors taken into consideration. The sector specialising in personal equipment fell by 9.8%, household equipment was down by 5.1% and retail trade specialising in mainly other consumer goods decreased by 2.5%.
By Province, the largest decrease in the first quarter of 2013 in nominal sales in the retail sector occurred in Bizkaia, with a year-on-year fall of 2.5%. Gipuzkoa saw its nominal sales drop by 2.4% and Álava experienced a decrease of 1.6%.
In constant prices, or prices without the price effect, sales for the retail sales sector fell by 5.5% in the first quarter, in year-on-year terms
For their part, retail trade sales, not including service stations, posted a real downturn at constant prices of 5.8% with respect to the first quarter of 2012.
In turn, the real decrease in retail food trade stood at 4.8%, in retail trade of other products this real decrease stood at 6.6% with regards to the same quarter of 2012, whist retail automotive fuel sales were down by 2.8%.
Within retail food trade the year-on-year evolution for specialised food trade was negative, with a fall of 7.6%, with non-specialised retail trade in food also posting a downturn of 6.8%. In sales of other products, there were downturns in all sectors except non-specialised trade of mainly other products, which was up by 12.4%. The sector specialising in personal equipment fell by 12.2%, household equipment was down by 8.0% and retail trade specialising in mainly other consumer goods decreased by 5.1%, all in real terms.
With regards to the previous quarter, there was a rise of 0.2% in real retail trade sales in the Basque Country, once seasonal effects had been eliminated.
The three Provinces registered decreases in their sales in real terms: Gipuzkoa fell by 5.7%, Bizkaia was down by 5.6% and Álava dropped by 4.9%.
The number of people employed in the retail trade sector in the Basque Country overall in the first quarter of 2013 was down by 1.5% on the fourth quarter.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tlf: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on the Retail Trade Index of the Basque Country (ICIm)
Retail Trade Index of the Basque Country (ICIm) databank