Finland Times

 

Development of value and volume of retail trade sales, April 2014, % (TOL 2008). Source: Statistics Finland.

Retail sales increased by 2.3 per cent in April 2014 compared to that in April 2013 in the country while the volume of sales, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, went up by 2.4 per cent during the period. 

 

According to Statistics Finland’s retail trade flash estimate, the growth in retail trade was especially caused by daily consumer goods trade where sales was 6.4 per cent higher than in April 2013. The volume of sales in daily consumer goods trade also grew by 6.1 per cent year-on-year.

 

The increase in sales was partly due to Easter being in April this year, while last year it was at the turn of March and April.

 

The fact that Easter occurs in different months is in particular visible in the sales development of food during March and April. There were 24 weekday trading days in April 2014, which is one day less than in April 2013.

 

According to the Business Register, the share of daily consumer goods of turnover in retail trade was 47.6 per cent in 2012.

 

The retail trade flash estimate is based on a sample covering, on the average, 60 per cent of retail trade turnover. Data on trade sales by industry will next be released on 13 June 2014.