In April, retail sales show a monthly decline of 0.4% in value and -0.5% in
volume. Sales of food goods increased by 1% in value and volume, while those of non-food goods decreased (-1.5% in value and -1.7% in volume). This was announced by Istat indicating that on a trend basis, again in April 2021, retail sales increased by 30.4% in value and 31.5% in volume.
“In April 2021, a slight cyclical retreat in retail sales emerges that follows the stagnation of the previous month”, reports Istat indicating that in the last two months the overall economic result has been supported by the positive trend of the food sector, while that of non-food goods contributed negatively. The statistical institute also underlines that the very strong trend increase observed for almost all the aggregates is obviously the result of the comparison with the sales of one month, April last year, characterized by extensive closures due to measures to contrast the ‘sanitary emergency.