Cyprus retail trade slips back in July

After one month of modest growth, retail sales slipped back again into negative territory in July, dropping by 3.6% compared with July 2010 according to preliminary data.
Final figures for June report an increase of just 0.3% compared with June 2010.
The overall fall disguises some big differences among different products or retailers.
While food drinks and tobacco sales rose by 4.3% compared with July 2010 in non-specialised stores, they fell by 11% in specialised stores.
Non-food product sales dropped b 2.9%.
For the period January-July overall retail sales volumes are provisionally estimated to have declined by 0.1%.
Meanwhile, the turnover value index for July is provisionally estimated to have fallen by 1.3% compared with July 2010.