BRUSSELS, May 7 (Xinhua) -- The volume of retail trade in March decreased slightly by 0.4 percent in the 15-nation euro area, and was down 0.7 percent in the 27-member European Union (EU), as compared with that of February this year, according to figures released Wednesday by Eurostat, the EU statistics office.
In February, the retail trade fell month-on-month by 0.2 percent in the euro zone, and increased 0.6 percent for the whole EU.
Meanwhile, the retail sales index fell by 1.6 percent year on year in the euro zone, but rose by 0.4 percent in the EU.
In March this year, "food, drinks and tobacco" decreased by 0.1percent in the euro area and by 0.6 percent in the EU, as compared with that of February this year. The non-food sector fell by 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively.
Among the EU members for which data are available, total retail trade in March increased month-on-month only in Sweden (0.4 percent) and Bulgaria (0.2 percent), remained unchanged in Romania and fell in 16 member states.
The largest decreases were observed in Slovenia (minus 8.1 percent), Portugal (minus 4.1 percent), Luxembourg (minus 3.9 percent) and Estonia (minus 3.8 percent).
In March, retail trade of "food, drinks and tobacco" fell year-on-year by 2.7 percent in the euro area and by 1.0 percent in the EU. The non-food sector decreased by 0.9 percent and grew by 1.4 percent respectively.
The highest increases were observed in Romania (16.2 percent), Slovakia (10.4 percent), Lithuania (9.0 percent) and Bulgaria (8.7percent), and the largest decreases in Spain (minus 5.3 percent), Estonia (minus 4.9 percent), Denmark (minus 4.6 percent) and Luxembourg (minus 4.2 percent).
The euro area consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
