Cyprus leads EU in retail trade growth for second month
Cyprus recorded the strongest annual growth in retail trade among all EU member states in May 2025, according to updated figures released by Eurostat this week.
Retail turnover on the island increased by 7.9 per cent compared to May 2024, a figure that stands well above the EU average of 1.9 per cent and the euro area average of 1.8 per cent.
This marks the second month in a row that Cyprus has outperformed all other EU countries in terms of annual retail growth.
In April 2025, the annual increase in Cyprus reached 7.7 per cent, followed by Estonia with 6.2 per cent and Sweden with 5.7 per cent.
Only two countries saw annual declines in April. These include Luxembourg with a drop of 3.6 per cent and Slovakia with a marginal decrease of 0.1 per cent.
Across the EU, April’s year-on-year growth stood at 2.8 per cent, while the eurozone saw a rise of 2.3 per cent.
Within the euro area, retail sales for food, drink and tobacco in April were up by 2.2 per cent compared to the previous year, while non-food products rose by 2.3 per cent and automotive fuel increased by 2.9 per cent.
In the broader EU, food, drink and tobacco sales rose by 2.3 per cent year-on-year, non-food products excluding fuel increased by 2.9 per cent and fuel sales surged by 3.9 per cent.
On a monthly basis, Cyprus also posted a robust performance in May 2025. Compared to April 2025, the volume of retail trade in Cyprus rose by 1.0 per cent.
This contrasts with a 0.8 per cent fall across the EU and a 0.7 per cent decline in the eurozone.
What is more, Cyprus was one of the few member states to record monthly growth in May, along with Portugal and Bulgaria, which registered increases of 2.1 per cent and 2.0 per cent respectively.
Meanwhile, the steepest monthly declines were seen in Sweden at 4.6 per cent, Belgium at 2.5 per cent and Estonia at 2.2 per cent.
Looking at the preceding month, April 2025 also saw moderate monthly gains in the EU and euro area.
Compared with March 2025, retail trade volume rose by 0.7 per cent in the EU and by 0.1 per cent in the euro area.
Furthermore, sector-specific data for April shows that food, drinks and tobacco sales increased by 0.5 per cent in the euro area and by 0.9 per cent in the EU.
Sales of non-food products excluding fuel declined slightly, by 0.3 per cent in the eurozone and 0.1 per cent in the EU.
Automotive fuel sales, on the other hand, rose by 1.3 per cent in the euro area and by 1.7 per cent in the EU.
Among the countries with the highest monthly growth in April were Poland with a substantial increase of 7.5 per cent, followed by Slovakia and Sweden with gains of 2.4 per cent, and Belgium at 2.1 per cent.
Germany, Malta and the Netherlands saw the sharpest month-on-month declines in April, falling by 1.1 per cent, 1.0 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.
The continued upward trend in retail activity in Cyprus highlights both the resilience of domestic demand and the broader momentum in the country’s economic recovery.