Retail trade volume drops in Romania, despite EU growth

Business Forum

6 November, 2025 at 6:45 PM

The volume of retail trade in Romania saw a significant drop in September 2025, registering a -2.1% decrease compared to the same month in the previous year, according to Eurostat.

This places Romania among the Member States with the largest annual decreases, second only to Italy (-2.3%).

This is a sharp contrast to the European Union (EU), which recorded an overall 1.3% increase in the calendar-adjusted retail sales index. The euro area also saw positive growth, rising by 1.0% year-on-year.

Romania's annual decline in total retail trade volume was part of a larger trend of decreases also observed in Belgium (-0.8%) and Austria (-0.1%).

Conversely, the highest annual increases in total retail trade volume across the Member States were recorded in Cyprus (+8.5%), Malta (+6.6%), and Bulgaria (+5.7%).

On a month-to-month basis, the seasonally adjusted retail trade volume in Romania showed a rebound, increasing by 1.3% in September 2025 compared with August 2025. This follows a sharp monthly decrease of -4.0% in August. For the entire EU, the volume of retail trade remained stable in September, while the euro area saw a slight decrease of 0.1%.

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