Retail trade - December 2021

In December 2021 estimates for seasonally adjusted index of retail trade rose in the month on month series by 0.9% in value terms and by 0.6% in volume terms.

In the 4th quarter 2021 value of sales was up 1.1% when compared with the previous three-month period, likewise volume grew by 0.8%.

In December 2021 both value and volume of retail trade continued to grow for the 10th month in a row in the year on year series. Value sales increased by 9.4% and volume sales rose by 7.7% comparing to December 2020.

In December 2021, when compared with the same month a year earlier, large-scale distribution was up 5.9%, small-scale distribution rose by 14.8% and non-store retail sales grew by 12.4%.

Online sales fell by 4.1% in December 2021 when compared with December 2020. This is the second negative y-o-y growth recorded in 2021, however levels of online sales in December 2021 were still substantially higher than those seen in February 2020, before the pandemic.

Looking at the value of sales for non-food products, all sectors experienced growth besides electric household appliances, audio-video equipment (-0.1%). The largest increases were reported for furniture and textile items and household furnishings (+26.1%), clothing (+24.7%) and pharmaceutical products (+22.0%).

In 2021 as a whole, value and volume of sales increased by 7.9% and 7.2% respectively when compared with 2020.