In April 2002 the turnover value van de retail trade was up by 2.6% on April a year ago. The preliminary figures by Statistics Netherlands show that shopping became 3.7% more expensive. Retail trade turnover increased by 6.4% on April last year.
In April consumers spent 6.5 billion euro at retailers, an average of 960 euro per household. Some 600 euro of this amount was spent in the non-food sector.
Price increase food sector slows down
The relatively strong price increases in the food sector slowed down in recent months. In April the prices in super markets, green grocers and butchers were 3.5% higher than in April last year. In January prices were 7.5% higher than the year before. The turnover value in the food sector went up substantially in April (+5%), so turnover is up by almost 9% on April 2001.
Modest volume increase in non-food sector
In the non-food sector of the retail trade the turnover value went up by 1.2% compared to April last year. The prices in this period increased by 3.9% and turnover by 5.1%.
The largest turnover increases in April were observed in textile super markets (+16.8%) and drug stores (+11.2%). The DIY branch also had an above average growth rate. Turnover in the branches of household articles, consumer electronics and home decoration were clearly below average.
(source: Statistics Netherlands)
