Source Statistics Finland
The retail trade sales have increased by 2.0 per cent in April 2013 in comparison with that in the corresponding period of the previous year, according to the retail trade flash estimate.
Besides, over the same period, the volume of sales, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, went up by 0.4 per cent.
The retail trade flash estimate is based on a sample covering, on the average, 50 per cent of retail trade turnover. Data on trade sales by industry will next be released on 12 June 2013.
In daily consumer goods trade, sales grew by 0.4 per cent in April but the volume of sales decreased by 3.6 per cent from the respective period of the year before.
According to the Business Register, the share of daily consumer goods turnover in retail trade was 47 per cent in 2011. In 2013, Easter was in March while in 2012 it was in April. Therefore, there were 25 trading days in April this year while there were two less in April last year.
Flash estimates on retail trade are published at a lag of just under one month from the end of the statistical reference month. The preliminary data on motor vehicle, wholesale and retail trade based on a larger sample will be published at a lag of roughly six weeks from the end of the statistical reference month and the revised data based on total data are published at a lag of roughly ten weeks.