Retail sales rise 3% in 12 months

Retail sales in the country posted a 3.1 per cent rise in November from that in the same month in 2016, said the Statistics Finland in a retail trade flash estimate.

Over the same period, the volume of retail sales, from which the impact of prices has been eliminated, achieved a 3.2 per cent growth.

In the daily trade of consumer goods, sales marked a hike of 1.8 per cent and the sales volume 1.6 per cent in November from that of one year ago.

The reported annual changes in retail trade sales and volumes are neither seasonally adjusted nor by daily trading, which means the effects of public holidays have not been calculated separately.

According to the structural business and financial statement statistics, daily consumer goods accounted for 49.8 per cent of the total retail turnover in 2016.

According to the retail trade flash estimate based on a sample covering, the share of daily consumer goods has escalated to 60 per cent of the total retail trade turnover in the 12 months since November 2016.

Data on sales by industry will be released next, on 15 January 2018.

Flash estimates on retail trade are published just one month ahead of the end of the statistical reference month. The preliminary data on motor vehicles – wholesale and retail trades based on a larger sample – will be published roughly six weeks ahead of the statistical reference month ends, and the revised and total data are made public roughly 10 weeks ahead.