Sales increase in all sectors of trade in August

Sales in total trade grew by 4.5 per cent in August 2018 from August 2017, according to Statistics Finland.

Sales in motor vehicle trade grew most among the sectors of trade, altogether by 8.2 per cent. Sales of wholesale trade went up by 4.5 per cent over the same period and sales of retail trade, in turn, by 2.8 per cent. Among retail trade industries, sales of daily consumer goods grew by 4.0 per cent and sales in department store trade by 1.9 per cent from August 2017.

The sales volume in retail trade was 1.6 per cent greater in August than twelve months earlier. Sales volume in motor vehicle trade, in turn, grew by 8.2 per cent and thus increased as much as turnover in the industry.

By contrast, sales volume in wholesale trade went down by 1.3 per cent from one year ago. The sales volume of total trade increased by 0.8 per cent in August from August 2017.

The volume index of sales is calculated by removing the effect of price changes from the value index series.

In the January to August period, sales went up by 3.1 per cent in retail trade and by 5.5 per cent in wholesale trade compared with the corresponding period of 2017. Sales in motor vehicle trade increased by 5.7 per cent over the same period. Total trade sales increased by 4.8 per cent compared with January to August 2017.