Retail sales in the 16 nations using the euro fell again in September, continuing a downward trend as consumers remained cautious, according to official EU data.
The volume of retail sales in the eurozone fell 0.7 per cent over the month in the eurozone and 3.6 per cent compared to sales in September 2008, the European Union's Eurostat data agency said.
Across the 27-nation bloc as a whole, retail trade also weakened, contracting by 0.4 per cent in September and by 2.5 per cent over one year.
Those EU figures were worse than the data in August and showed the downward trend gathering pace after a slight increase in retail sales in July.
On a national basis, there were some retail trade rises, led by a 2.5 per cent increase in Austria and a 1.1 per cent rise in Slovakia.
Underlining the national differences there were at the same time drops of 2.0 per cent in Portugal, 2.4 per cent in Estonia and 7.6 per cent in Lithuania.
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight in London, described the figures as unexpected and disappointing.
"It is likely that the retail sales data modestly understate the current strength of consumer spending in the eurozone as they do not include car sales which have been lifted substantially in a number of countries by 'cash for clunkers' schemes," he said.
Indeed such schemes may be diverting some spending away from retail sales.
"It still seems highly probable that the eurozone returned to growth" in the third quarter," Archer added.
"Nevertheless, significant doubts and uncertainties remain about the future strength of consumer spending across the eurozone, and it may very well limit hold back overall growth."
©2009AFP