Retail Shows Resilience: Modest Growth Despite Economic Challenges
Boedapest, zaterdag, 7 juni 2025.
The European retail sector displays a cautiously positive picture in April 2025. Hungary registered a notable volume growth of 5.0%, while Romania recorded a modest increase of 0.4%. Despite challenging economic conditions such as fluctuating food prices and industrial production figures, the retail sector demonstrates resilience. Notably, the growth is differentiated: in Hungary, non-food retail and online sales performed particularly strongly, while Romania’s growth figures remain moderate. These figures suggest a cautious recovery and adaptability of retail in a complex economic landscape.
Retail in Hungary: Strong Volume Growth
The Hungarian retail sector showed a significant volume growth of 5 percent in April 2025. The growth figures present a differentiated picture across various retail sectors. Non-food retail demonstrated a growth of 4 percent, while online sales increased by 9.1 percent [1]. Particularly notable was the performance in different sales segments, such as industrial goods stores with a growth of 8.3 percent and health-related stores with an increase of 7.2 percent [1].
Romanian Retail Market: Moderate Development
In Romania, the retail sector showed a modest growth of 0.4 percent year-on-year. The calendar-adjusted figures even revealed an increase of 3.1 percent [2]. Notably, the performances varied: while food retail showed a slight decline of 0.7 percent, non-food products grew by 6.7 percent and fuel sales by 2.8 percent [2].
Economic Context and Challenges
The retail sector operates in a complex economic landscape. The international food prices, as measured by the FAO index, showed a slight decrease of 0.8 percent in May 2025, primarily driven by declines in grain, vegetable oil, and sugar prices [3]. These price fluctuations present a challenging background for retail in Eastern Europe.