It fell 7.3pc yr/yr in September, 7.2pc in August and 6.6pc in July, after a moderate 2.3pc yr/yr drop in June. Twelve-month retail sales have fallen every month since February 2007. In a month-on-month comparison, retail sales fell 0.6pc according to seasonally and calendar-adjusted figures, after a 0.5pc fall in September, a 0.8pc decline in August and a deeper, 2.1pc drop in July. The steeper path followed a 5pc-point increase in the main VAT rate which took effect on July 1. January-September sales volume fell 4.7pc from the first fine months last year after a 4.4pc fall in September and a 4.2pc drop in August. The retail sales data include turnover of vehicle fuel from January 2009, in line with changes to revised EU statistical classifications. Retail sales, at current prices, totalled HUF 641bn in October, up from HUF 620.4bn in September, and amounted to HUF 5907bn in the first ten months of the year. Food and FMCG sales accounted for 45pc of retail turnover in January-October. Food and other FMCG sales were down 5.5pc in October yr/yr, and fell 3.7pc in January-October from the same period a year earlier. Sales volume at supermarkets, which account for 91pc of total FMCG sales, declined 5.5pc from September 2008. Non-food retail sales volume fell 12.3pc in October and dropped 8.1pc in January-October from the same respective periods a year earlier. In a month-on-month comparison, non-food retail sales dropped 1.3pc in October. Fuel sales volume – which accounts for 16pc of retail sales – fell 1.4pc in October but was up 0.3pc in January-October from the same respective periods a year earlier. Car and car part sales, which are not calculated as part of retail sales, continued falling, halving in October and declining 40.1pc in January-October.