Turnover increased in all sectors of trade

According to Statistics Finland, turnover in total trade adjusted for working days grew by 3% in September year-on-year and the development was positive in all sectors of trade.

Over the same time period, the working day adjusted volume of sales, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, increased by 3.5%. Growth was strongest in motor vehicle trade, where both turnover and the volume of sales grew by 10.7%. The development was in part affected by the new WLTP measuring method for emissions introduced at the beginning of September 2018, which weakened the growth in motor vehicle trade one year ago.

In September, working day adjusted turnover of wholesale trade increased by 1% and the volume of sales by 1.7% year-on-year. In retail trade, the working day adjusted turnover grew by 3.6% in September.

The biggest growth among retail trade industries was seen in department store trade and daily consumer goods trade. The turnover of department store trade was 3.7% and that of daily consumer goods trade 3.5% higher than one year earlier. The volume of sales in these industries also developed favourably.

In specialised store trade, working day adjusted turnover increased by 2.8% and sales volume by 4.7%.

Month-on-month growth

Seasonally adjusted turnover and sales volume in total trade both grew by 0.7% in September compared to August. In August, turnover and sales volume increased by 0.4% from the month before.

During January to September, turnover in total trade adjusted for working days grew by 1% and sales volume by 0.4% from the corresponding period in 2018.