OREANDA-NEWS. August 06, 2008. Volume of retail trade in Latvia in June this year, comparing to the respective period of time last year, fell by 8.3 percent, which is the most rapid fall among all European Union (EU) countries, according to the EU's statistical bureau "Eurostat".

Spain registered a 7.7 percent decrease in retail trade in June, whilst Estonia registered a 7.2 percent decrease in retail trade. Retail trade increased in the EU as a whole by 1.1 percent this past June. Romania, Slovenia and Poland registered the highest increases in retail trade in June - by 23.3 percent, 5.7 percent and 5.2 percent respectively.

As reported, in 2007, Latvia registered the steepest increase in retail trade in the EU almost the whole year, but lost leader position the past few months as the growth pace was slowing down.

In June 2008, compared with May 2008, the volume of retail trade increased by 1 percent in the 27 EU countries and by 0.6 percent in the euro-zone countries. Among the member states, total retail trade rose in Romania - by 4.1 percent, and Sweden - by 1.7. The largest decreases were observed in Austria - by 4.1 percent, Lithuania - by 2.8 percent, Portugal - by 2.3 percent, and Latvia - by 2.2 percent.

Compared with May 2008, the volume of retail trade decreased by 1.1 percent in Estonia in June 2008.

"Eurostat" data for June includes data on 18 EU member states. Data on other EU countries were still not available.