Retail sales in Germany declined at the end of 2021, falling sharply due to the increase in coronavirus cases and the reintroduction of restrictions, german statistical office Destatis said. (Germany Retail Sales Tumbled in December Amid Renewed Restrictions – MarketWatch). Sales fell 5.5% from December, after a 0.6% increase in November.
"The decline in December is believed to be related to the introduction of the 2G rule in many retail stores and the impact of calendar and seasonal adjustments due to the Christmas holidays," Destatis said. The 2G rule implies that citizens have to be either vaccinated or recovered from Covid-19 to enter shops, restaurants, hotels and theaters.
Non-food sales in physical stores declined 7.7% on month, sales of food beverages and tobacco fell 1.4% and demand in hyper and super markets slipped by 1.8%. Online shopping also weakened, falling 5.7% on month, pointing to a broad-based fall in demand.
Retail sales in 2021 were 0.7% higher in real terms than in 2020, according to provisional results. However, parts of shop-based retail trade, such as retail trade in textiles, clothing, footwear and leather products, suffered losses in turnover in the second year of the coronavirus crisis, the statistics office said.
Looking ahead, the vaccine passport legislation and other restrictions are expected to remain in place through most of February, weighting on activity at the start of the first quarter, Pantheon Macroeconomics says. Retail sales will remain depressed at the start of the first quarter before rebounding sharply toward the end of the quarter and into the second quarter, Pantheon forecasts.
