Press release 11/09/2020

SERVICE SECTOR INDEX. TRADE. II/2020

Sales in the Trade sector of the Basque Country were down 18.3% in the second quarter of 2020

Compared to the previous quarter, Trade also shrank by 13.6%

The Trade sector, which comprises Wholesale Trade, Retail Trade, and Sale & Repair of Vehicles, saw an 18.3%% decrease in sales in real terms, in the second quarter of 2020, compared to the same quarter of the previous year and once corrected for calendar effects, according to Eustat data.

Compared to the previous quarter, and once any seasonal effects had been eliminated, Trade shrank by 13.6% at constant prices.

Within Trade, the year-on-year evolution of real sales, once corrected for calendar effects, was negative for the three branches; standing out was the drop of 34.0% observed in Sale & Repair of Motor Vehicles. Wholesale Trade sales were down 17.4% and Retail Trade sales fell by 15.5%.

By provinces, in Álava sales contracted by 18.4%, in Bizkaia they were down by 19.5% and in Gipuzkoa there was a fall in sales of 16.3%, all compared to the second quarter of 2019 and once the price and calendar effects had been discounted.

The index of people employed in the Trade sector in the Basque Country fell by 1.5% in the year-on-year period between the second quarters of 2019 and 2020, which represented a decrease in deseasonalised terms of 1.7% in respect of the first quarter of 2020.

NOTE

The state of alarm declared in Royal Decree 463/2020 of 14 March in order to manage the health crisis caused by COVID-19 ended on 21 June. The exceptional measures adopted during the state of alarm have had a direct impact on the establishments that participate in the Service Sector Index.

Included as persons employed considered in this and other short-term indices, are those covered by an ERTE (Temporary Labour Force Adjustment Plan), following the definition of persons employed indicated by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) in its manual Methodology of Short Term Business Statistics.

The models used in the correction of calendar effects and deseasonalisation of the series include the effect of COVID-19 on the variables studied, following the recommendations of the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) (Eurostat) in its methodological note Guidance on Time Series Treatment in the context of the COVID-19 crisis..

Eustat would like to thank all the companies that have collaborated in making this effort despite the extraordinary circumstances. As a result, the index for the second quarter of 2020 was calculated with 90.74% coverage of the sample - whose information was mainly collected during July and August.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62