Eurozone retail sales declined more than expected in July largely reflecting a notable fall in food and auto fuel sales, official data showed Thursday.
Retail sales posted a monthly fall of 0.5 percent, in contrast to the 0.6 percent increase in June, Eurostat reported. Sales were expected to fall 0.3 percent.
Sales of food, drinks and tobacco fell 1.1 percent, reversing June's 0.6 percent rise. At the same time, non-food product sales grew only 0.2 percent after a 0.6 percent gain.
Sales of automotive fuel in specialized stores slid 1.7 percent, offsetting the prior month's 0.8 percent increase.
On a yearly basis, growth in retail sales eased to 2.2 percent in July from 3.5 percent in June. Moreover, this was weaker than forecast of 2.4 percent.
Sales in the EU27 registered a monthly fall of 0.4 percent in July but increased 2.4 percent from a year ago.
Among member states of EU, the largest monthly decreases in the total retail sales were recorded in Croatia, Estonia and Germany. Meanwhile, the highest increases were seen in Lithuania, Latvia and the Netherlands.