Sales in total trade went down in December by 1.7 per cent compared to December 2017, according to the latest numbers published by Statistics Finland.
Sales in motor vehicle trade decreased by 2.9 per cent and sales in wholesale trade, in turn, by 2.8 per cent. Sales in retail trade grew in December by 0.3 per cent from one year ago. Among retail trade industries, sales in daily consumer goods trade grew by 0.9 per cent and in department store trade by 0.2 per cent compared with December 2017.
Sales volume in total trade decreased by 3.4 per cent year-on-year in December
The sales volume in retail trade was 0.1 per cent lower in December than twelve months earlier. Over the same period, the sales volume in wholesale trade went down by 5.9 per cent and in motor vehicle trade, in turn, by 2.4 per cent from one year ago. The sales volume of total trade decreased by 3.4 per cent in December from December 2017.
The volume index of sales is calculated by removing the effect of price changes from the value index series.
Sales in retail trade grew by 2.7% in 2018 from 2017
In January to December, sales grew by 2.7 per cent in retail trade and by 4.4 per cent in wholesale trade compared with the corresponding period of 2017. Sales in motor vehicle trade increased by 3.5 per cent over the same period. Sales in total trade increased by 3.7 per cent compared with January to December 2017.
The reported annual changes in trade sales and sales volumes are not seasonally or trading day adjusted, which means that the effects of public holidays are not considered.
