Retail sales growth picks up in February

ANKARA

The annual rate of growth in retail sales accelerated from 13.7 percent in January to 25.1 percent in February, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has shown.

The month-on-month increase also gathered pace from January’s 2.7 percent to 3.5 percent.

Food sales rose by 13 percent year-on-year in February after increasing 9.5 percent in the previous month, showed TÜİK data released on April 16.

Non-food retail sales, which grew 19.7 percent in the first month of 2024, were up 36.5 percent compared with February 2023.

The electronic goods market expanded by 25.2 percent, while sales in the textile/clothing sector surged more than 16 percent annually.

Mail orders and online orders leaped 59 percent year-on-year.

The overall trade sales volume rose by 11.3 percent in February after recording a paltry 0.2 percent annual increase in the previous month.

The year-on-year increase in wholesale trade was 5.7 percent, TÜİK said.

Separate data from the statistics authority showed on April 16 that the combined turnover in the industry, construction, trade and services sectors rose by 85.1 percent in February from a year ago.

In industry and construction turnover increased by 77.3 percent and 104 percent, respectively.

In the trade and services sectors, the year-on-year increase in turnover was 83.7 percent and 103.8 percent, respectively.

The monthly increase in the combined turnover of those four sectors was 6.3 percent, according to TÜİK data.