The Netherlands' retail sales increased sharply and at a stable rate in January, largely driven by a significant upturn in non-food sales, according to data published by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.
Retail turnover adjusted for shopping days grew 11.3 percent yearly in January, the same pace of growth as in December, which was the strongest annual growth since April 2022. Sales have been rising since March 2021.
Turnover in the non-food stores surged 21.5 percent annually in January, and those of food stores climbed 7.3 percent. Online turnover grew 10.9 percent.
The large growth is mainly due to the fact that last year there was a lockdown in force until 15 January 2022, which affected the non-food sector, the agency said.
On an unadjusted basis, retail turnover gained 11.1 percent yearly in January.
