Press release 12/02/2021

SERVICE SECTOR INDEX. TRADE. IV/2020

Trade in the Basque Country saw a 7.4% overall drop in sales in 2020

Trade sales in the fourth quarter of the year were down 4.5% on the same quarter of the previous year

The 2020 balance for overall sales in the Trade sector, which encompasses wholesale and retail trade and the sale and repair of vehicles, decreased by 7.4% in homogeneous terms of the working calendar and at constant prices, according to Eustat data.

In 2020, a year marked by the restrictions adopted to combat the crisis caused by COVID-19, the three subsectors of the Trade sector recorded a decline in sales of varying intensity.

In the case of Retail Trade, sales dropped by 4.9%, in Wholesale Trade they fell 8.5% and there was an 11.4% downturn in the Sale and Repair of Motor Vehicles.

In 2020, sales in the Trade sector as a whole in Bizkaia saw a drop of 8.3% at constant prices, in Gipuzkoa they fell 6.7% and in Álava they were down 5.7%.

In 2020 as a whole, the number of people employed in the Trade sector registered a decrease of 1.8% on the average for the previous year.

FOURTH QUARTER OF 2020

Looking at data from the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, Trade sales in the Basque Country posted a 4.5% drop in real terms compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Compared to the previous quarter, and once any seasonal effects had been eliminated, the Trade sector shrank by 1.2% at constant prices.

The year-on-year trends within Trade were negative for all subsectors. In the last quarter of the year, Wholesale Trade sales fell 7.1%, the Sale and Repair of Vehicles declined by 3.2% and, lastly, Retail Trade sales were down 1.7% on the fourth quarter of the previous year.

By province, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa recorded a drop in overall Trade of 5.6% and 5.1%, respectively, whereas Álava saw a slight increase of 0.1%, all compared to the last quarter of 2019, once the price effect had been discounted.

Finally, the index of people employed in the Trade sector in the Basque Country saw a downturn of 3.1% in the last quarter of 2020 compared to the last quarter of 2019.

NOTE:

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) in its methodological note Guidance on Time Series Treatment in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.

Eustat would like to thank all the establishments that have collaborated in making this effort despite the circumstances. As a result, the index for the fourth quarter was calculated with 93.08% coverage of the sample – whose information was collected during January.

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