In January, the General Retail Trade Index at constant prices, once adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects, registered a variation of 0.3% as compared with the same month of the previous year. This rate was 2.4 points lower than the one registered in December.
The original RTI series at constant prices registered an annual variation of 2.1%, this rate was one point above the rate of the previous month.
Annual rates. Percentage
The monthly variation of the RTI between the months of January and December, stood at -0.5%. This rate was six tenths higher than the previous month.
Seasonally and calendar adjusted. Monthly rate. Percentage
All distribution classes showed negative monthly rates, except for Single retail stores which increased (0.2%). Department stores registered the greatest decrease (-1.9%).
The general index, excluding service stations, recorded a monthly rate of 0.3%. By products, Food decreased by 1.1% and Non-food products by 1.2%.
Seasonally and calendar adjusted. Monthly rate. Percentage
Retail sales at constant prices increased in the annual rate in all Autonomous Communities in January.
Annual sales rate. Percentage
In January, the employment index in the retail trade sector registered a variation of 1.9% as compared to the same month of 2023. This rate was three tenths below that recorded in December.
Today the INE has updated the ICM data since 2000 by publishing them in the new 2021 base. All the results of this operation are available in INEbase.
The National Statistics Institute (INE) published the first Industrial Production Index (IPI) in base 2021 base today. In this way, Commission Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 laying down technical specifications and modalities pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics is complied with.
The base change consists of reviewing and updating the main components that make up the calculation of the index. The objective is to achieve an indicator that adapts to the changes that have occurred in the retail sector in the last six years, so that it measures the evolution of that sector more accurately, which will result in a more representative ICM.
The changes introduced in the base 2021 are, fundamentally, four: the revision of the sample, the updating of the weighting structure, the use of turnover without indirect taxes for the calculation of the index and the dissemination of results by economic activity according to the CNAE-2009.
One of the most important aspects in the base change process is the sample update. To this end, a complete study of the population of retail trade companies (division 47 of the CNAE-2009) is carried out in the Central Directory of Companies (DIRCE), which is the population framework of this survey, defining a new theoretical sample that better reflects the current structure of the sector. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, changes were made to the weights and the sample of reporting units in order to update their structure and improve their representativeness.
As a result of this sample update, approximately 12,000 companies that provide information on their turnover without including indirect taxes – disaggregated between food and other products sold – and their occupation are surveyed every month in the 2021 base ICM, all disaggregated by autonomous communities.
The complete weighting structure has been updated at all levels of functional and geographical breakdown, in order to represent industrial activity more precisely. The calculation of weights is carried out based on the survey data itself, referencing the weights as of December of the year immediately preceding the reference year.
Due to the modifications of the samples in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the weights of these years have been revised. For the year 2024, the December 2023 weights are used.
In the 2021 base, the invoice used in the calculation of the indices does not include indirect taxes, which were incorporated in the invoices of the previous bases.
The implementation of a new structure implies a break in the continuity of the series, especially when there is also a change in the way of calculating the index, as occurs in the 2021 base ICM, where indices have been calculated based on the CNAE-2009 activity and incorporating a new mode of distribution that includes internet commerce.
In order to have continuous series that allow calculating rates of variation between different periods, and to carry out studies and predictions about the evolution of the retail sector, the INE has linked the series and published the indices on a 2021 basis, since January 2000, in order to give continuity to the information published so far.
The indices prior to 2021 have been linked by multiplying the series by a constant coefficient, thus preserving the rates of variation.
Since January 2021, the series have been recalculated on the new basis, using the new weights. Therefore, the rates of variation of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023 of the base 2021 ICM will be different from those calculated using the indices in base 2015.
In the 2021 base ICM, instead of publishing the series according to product groups, by modes of distribution and by autonomous communities, indices will be published according to the CNAE-2009 activity, by modes of distribution and by autonomous community, both in terms of invoice (at current prices and at constant prices) and employment.
The main results corrected for calendar effects and corrected for seasonal and calendar effects are also published, which allows the sector to be analyzed in a clearer way.
All information on the new ICM base is available on the INE website.
The main objective of the Retail Trade Indices (RTI) is to ascertain the fundamental characteristics of the companies engaged in retail trade in Spain, which make it possible to measure, in the short term, the trend of activity in the sector.
Further information is available in the methodology and in the standardised methodological report.
INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information in Quality at INE and the Code of Best Practices.
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