Eustat

Press release dated 04/02/2011

RETAIL TRADE INDEX OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY (ICIm) 4th quarter 2010

Retail trade sales shrank by 0.1% in the Basque Country in the fourth quarter of 2010

The sales for 2010 overall rose an accumulated 1.2% in nominal terms

The retail trade sector of the Basque Country registered a 0.1% drop in nominal sales in the fourth quarter of 2010 compared to the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data.

Retail trade sales, without including service stations, were down by 1.5% in year-on-year terms.

With respect to the previous quarter, the sales index was up a nominal 0.1%, once any seasonal effects had been eliminated.

By sectors, specialised retail trade nominal sales fell by 0.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010, while non-specialised ones rose by 0.4% compare to the same period of 2009.

Within the specialist retail trade sector, the performance of Other Consumer Goods, which includes service stations, computer equipment and sports items, posted nominal growth of 5.2%. The Household Equipment sector shrank by 9.0% on the same quarter of the previous year, while sales of Food and Personal Equipment products were down by 3.0% in both cases.

Performances within the non-specialised retail trade sector were similar: year-on-year sales of the food sub-sectors rose by 0.3%, while those coming under Other Products were up by 0.2%.

By provinces, retail trade nominal sales fell in Bizkaia, down 1.0% in year-on-year terms, while they increased by 0.7% in Gipuzoa and Álava saw its nominal sales increase by 1.3%.



In constant prices, retail trade sales fell by 2.6% in the fourth quarter after the price effect had been eliminated

Retail trade sales, without including service stations, posted a real downturn of 2.4% with respect to the previous year.

The real drop was 3.3% and 1.2% in the case of specialised and non-specialised retail trade, respectively, compared to the same quarter of 2009.

Year-on-year performance in real terms within specialised retail trade was negative in all sectors: Household Equipment was down 10.1%, sales of Food products dropped 4.4%, Personal Equipment posted a real decrease of 2.5% and sales of Other Consumer Goods fell 1.9%.

As far as non-specialised retail trade was concerned, year-on-year sales of Food products fell by 1.0% and of Other Products were down by 2.3%, in constant euros.

The number of people employed in the retail trade sector in the Basque Country overall in the fourth quarter of 2010 was down by 0.5% on the third quarter of 2010.

2010 ANNUAL BALANCE

Retail trade sales for the year overall posted an accumulated nominal increase of 1.2%. If service stations are excluded, other retail trade sales did not noticeably change (0.0%) in the accumulated data of 2010 compared to 2009.

In real terms, the sector overall posted a drop of 0.6%, which was a 0.3% downturn without the service stations.

By provinces, the best performance was recorded by Gipuzkoa, with an increase of 2.1% for the year as a whole, followed by Álava, up 1.4%, and Bizkaia, which grew by 0.6%, all in nominal terms. In real terms, Gipuzkoa remained unchanged (0.0%), Álava shrank by 1.8% and Bizkaia by 0.7%.

The increase in employment in the retail trade sector in 2010 on the average for the previous year was 0.2% and was reflected provincially as follows: a 1.4% increase in Bizkaia and downturns of 2.4% and 0.5% in Álava and Gipuzkoa, respectively.

For further information:

Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tlf:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.es
Contact: Gerardo Pérez Aja
Tel:+34-945-01 75 06 F ax:+34-945-01 75 01
Further press releases on the Retail Trade Index of the Basque Country (ICIm)
Retail Trade Index of the Basque Country (ICIm) databank