Swedish retail sales declined in February after rising in the previous month, led by weaker demand for consumables, preliminary data from Statistics Sweden showed Wednesday.
Retail sales dropped a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent from February, when they rose a revised 3.7 percent. Sales of consumables, excluding those from the state-owned Systembolaget chain of liquor stores, fell 1.1 percent, those of durables increased 0.2 percent. "Even though total retail sales declined slightly, there are some signs of recovery after the pandemic," Statistics Sweden economist Lovisa Hertzman said.
"One of the industries with the largest growth in February is in specialized stores which has been suffering during the pandemic."
Sales at specialized stores are now at higher index levels compared to segments such as non-specialized stores which were stable throughout the whole period, the economist added.
On a year-on-year basis, retail sales rose a working-day adjusted 2.9 percent in February after a revised 4.2 percent increase in the previous month.
