HELSINKI: Retail trade sales decreased by 2.7 per cent in May 2015 year-on-year, according to Statistics Finland, Sales declined by 3.6 per cent both in daily consumer goods trade and in department store trade.
Over the same period, wholesale trade sales fell by 6.4 per cent and motor vehicle sales by 6.1 per cent. Sales decreased in total trade by 5.2 per cent from May 2014 as per the statistics. In retail trade, the sales volume declined by 2.0 per cent from May 2014. The sales volume in wholesale trade fell, in turn, by 4.8 per cent and in motor vehicle sales by 5.7 per cent from twelve months earlier.
The volume of total sales was thus 3.9 per cent lower in May than one year earlier. In the January to May period, sales contracted by 1.6 per cent in retail trade and by 5.1 per cent in wholesale trade compared to January to May 2014, the data show. Simultaneously, motor vehicle sales declined by 1.3 per cent from the year before. The total trade sales, therefore, went down by 3.5 per cent over the corresponding period.
