German retail sales were a shade firmer than expected in April, showing a 0.6 per cent rise in real terms month-on-month but still fell by 1.8 per cent from a year ago, the Federal Statistics Office said this morning.
According to the data, based on figures from six German states accounting for around 81 percent of total goods sold, retail sales rose one per cent on the month in nominal terms and fell by 1.7 per cent from April 2003.
The Office also confirmed March data had been revised to show a month-on-month rise of 0.6 per cent and annual increase of 1.6 per cent in real terms from an originally reported 0.5 per cent drop and 1.2 per cent gain respectively.
Sales in the first four months of the year fell by 1.1 per cent in real terms and by 1.5 per cent in nominal terms compared with a year earlier, the Office said.
On the year, sales of groceries, beverages and tobacco products fell by 0.5 per cent in real terms, while sales of non-groceries were down by 2.7 per cent. Sales of textiles, clothing, shoes and leather wares rose by one per cent.