Hungary sees biggest drop in retail sales in EU

June 06. 2023. – 01:58 PM

Copy

Copied to clipboard

Among EU member states, Hungary saw the biggest year-on-year decline in retail sales in April, Portfolio reports.

When comparing April 2023 with April 2022, based on Eurostat data, retail sales fell by 2.6 percent in the euro area and by 2.9 percent in the EU as a whole, meaning that people shopped slightly less.

However, when comparing retail sales over these two periods in Hungary, the numbers show that sales fell significantly, by 12.6%, which is the worst in the EU. This is because Hungary has produced the most brutal inflation by far.

Estonia (down 10 per cent), Slovakia (minus 9.8 per cent) and Slovenia (down 8.6 per cent) did slightly better than us, but still not too well. In Cyprus, Spain and Luxembourg, on the other hand, people bought 6-9 per cent more than in April of last year. The big economies, Germany and France, saw a drop of 3-4 percent.

If the Hungarian decline is broken down by type of business, then we find that shopping in

  • grocery and food-related stores was down by 8.6 percent,
  • non-food retail was down by 10.7 percent,
  • and in fuel retail, sales were 22.9 percent lower than during the same period last year.

Sales in motor vehicle and automotive parts stores, which are not included in retail trade data, fell 4.4 percent.

As a reminder, in April, Hungary came out on top of the EU's inflation chart again. The average inflation rate in the eurozone was only 7%, which is less than a third of that in Hungary.

For more quick, accurate and impartial news from and about Hungary, subscribe to the Telex English newsletter!