“Castilla y León Retail Trade Sales Drop in April Compared to National Increase: INE Report”

The retail trade of Castilla y León registered a decline in its sales of 0.6 percent in April in relation to the same month of 2022, compared to a rebound of 5 percent in the rest of the country, which nevertheless registered a rate of 4, 9 points lower than that of the previous month, as reported on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

This is the worst data in the evolution of retail trade sales in the country, which rose in almost all territories, with the exception of Castilla y León and Melilla. In turn, Islas Baleares (12.4 percent), Comunidad de Madrid (10.4 percent) and Comunidad Valenciana (7.1 percent) registered the largest increases.

So far this year, retail trade sales have grown by 2.4 percent in Castilla y León, once again a worse evolution than the average that almost triples sales with 6.5 percent.

For its part, employment in the retail trade grew by seven tenths in Castilla y León, when in Spain it rose more than double (1.8 percent), and marks the fifth worst evolution in the country. Compared to the previous month, job creation fell by two tenths in Castilla y León when in Spain it increased by 0.6 percent while so far this year it rose by 0.7 percent, just half the average ( 1.4 percent).

At the national level, with the data for April, retail trade sales chain five consecutive months of positive interannual rates.

Within the sector, sales of food products rose 0.9% year-on-year, ending seven consecutive months of negative rates, while sales of other products increased 14.2% compared to April 2022.

Stripping out seasonal and calendar effects, retail trade invoicing increased by 5.5 percent in the fourth month of the year, a rate 4.4 points lower than that of March.

As regards employment, the sector registered an interannual increase in employment of 1.8% in April, a rate one tenth higher than that of the previous month. With this rebound, employment in retail trade has now accumulated 24 consecutive months of year-on-year increases.