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Malta with sharpest decline in retail sales during May
Malta has registered the sharpest decline in retail trade during May.
Statistics published today by the European Union's statistical office Eurostat, Malta registered the sharpest decline in retail trade (-7.3%) during May.
The statistic comes as a blow to the local economy when compared to Eurostat's announcement that retail sales in the Eurozone recovered more strongly than even the most optimistic forecasts had projected in May.
Compared to Estonia, which saw the fastest rise ( 10.4%), the sharpest declines were registered in Malta, Portugal (-5.1%) and Slovenia (-3.4%).
In May 2012, compared with April 2012, the volume of retail trade rose by 0.6% in both the euro area2 (EA17) and the EU27. In April retail trade fell by 1.4% in both zones.
In May 2012, compared with May 2011, the retail sales index dropped by 1.7% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU27.
In May 2012, compared with April 2012, "Food, drinks and tobacco" increased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU27. The non food sector rose by 1.0% and 0.9% respectively.
Among the Member States for which data are available, total retail trade rose in sixteen, remained unchanged in Denmark and fell in four. The highest increases were registered in Austria ( 3.1%), Portugal ( 2.9%), Latvia ( 2.1%), Finland ( 1.9%) and Ireland ( 1.7%). The decreases were observed in Poland (-1.3%), Slovenia, (-1.0%), Bulgaria and Germany (both -0.3%).
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I DO shop on-line; everything, except for my groceries!
Example? Logitech Squeezebox in Malta 199 Euros; on-line from Germany 135 Euros. The numbers for themselves.
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Bla flus il-Haddiem Sur Gvern li tippretendi li ghandek Kuxjenza. Il-Kuxjenza ghal ma tal-QALBA. Il-haddiem ghandu jibz ghal flus u jaghmel sagrifficju u jaqta ix-xinxilli. La qed ibghati il-haddiem ghandu ibghati ta' fuq UKOLL u qedin jisolhu kull ma isibu u jaraw.
Flimkien Kollox possibli hux veru Dr Gonzi.
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Kollox fuq ir-rubini; sales niezlin, profitti osfru u kulhadd jiggieled ghal l-ghadam li ghadu sparixxa; thats Gonzi+TonioPN for you.....down the drain!
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@Mr.Godfrey Vella. I do shop online from UK mostly, but since the sterling is 20% higher equivalent to the Euro currency since March of this year, most Maltese that shop online do it from the UK, online shopping have reduced drastically, cause it is not worth yet, until the Euro currency gets stronger. I know for sure that even cars imports from U.K. has dropped sharply.
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@Mr.Godfrey Vella. I do shop online from UK mostly, but since the sterling is 20% higher equivalent to the Euro currency since March of this year, most Maltese that shop online do it from the UK, online shopping have reduced drastically, cause it is not worth yet, until the Euro currency gets stronger. I know for sure that even cars imports from U.K. has dropped sharply.
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It would be interesting to know how much of this drastic decrease in retail sales is due to the increase in overseas online shopping and how much is actually due to an economic slowdown and a decrease in customer spending. I suspect it is a combination of both. What is definitely clear is that the retail sector in Malta is set to shrink considerably as more Maltese look to the greater choice and better pricing that overseas online shopping provides. The effects of this on employment in the retail sector are something that we should be getting seriously worried about.
