Retail sales have been dropping yr/yr each month since February 2007. The monthly rise was the first since an 0.2pc increase from June to July last year. Because of 2008 changes corresponding to a new revised statistical classification of economic activities in the European Union, the KSH figures include turnover from the sale of vehicle fuel from January 2009. Data were revised retroactively to permit comparison.

Second-hand is the leader

The sales volume of shops selling food, tobacco and beverages were down 1.5pc from a year earlier in January, and was unchanged from December, according to adjusted figures. Non-food retail sales were down 5.7pc in twelve months, but rose 0.6pc from January. Most types of shops registered falling turnover within the non-food segment. The few exceptions included textiles, clothing and footwear shops, whose sales rose 2pc yr/yr, and second-hand stores, whose sales grew 11.2pc yr/yr in January, though dropped 3.4pc from December. January vehicle fuel sales were up a slight 0.1pc from a year earlier and rose 0.5pc from last December. Hungarian retail sales totalled HUF 480.7bn (EUR 1.58bn) at current prices in January.

Just as the eurozone

Retail sales in the EU dropped 1.2pc in January and fell 2.2pc in the eurozone compared to one year earlier. The largest slumps were recorded in Latvia and Lithuania. KSH noted that the retail sales volume of vehicles and vehicle parts dropped 31.9pc yr/yr in January. EU statistics do not include this figure in retail sales.