Retail trade fell by 4.6% in the first nine months, according to INS data

Romania’s retail trade fell by 4.6% in the first nine months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025, according to data published Friday by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS). Calculated as a series adjusted for the number of working days and seasonality, the decline was 4.9%.

The decline in the unadjusted series was driven by a 5.4% decrease in sales of non-food products, a 4% decrease in sales of food, beverages and tobacco, and a 3.8% decrease in retail fuel sales. In the adjusted series, sales of non-food products fell by 6%, those of food, beverages and tobacco by 4%, and fuel sales by 2.8%.

In September 2026, retail turnover fell by 2.6% compared with August in the unadjusted series, and by 1.3% after seasonal adjustment. Compared with September 2025, the decline was 1.5% in the unadjusted series and 2.6% in the adjusted series. The only segment to post positive growth in the monthly unadjusted figures was non-food products, whose sales rose by 1.9%.