Brussels, Jan 8 (IANS): The European Union's (EU) retail trade dropped 5 per cent and 6.1 per cent in the euro area in November 2020 compared with the previous month, according to the bloc's statistic agency.

In a report issued on Thursday, Eurostat said the reintroduction of Covid-19 containment measures by several member states in November had a "significant impact" on the retail trade, Xinhua news agency reported.

In October, a somewhat relaxation of measures had resulted in an increase of 1.4 per cent in the retail trade volume in both the EU and the euro area.

When compared with November 2019, the calendar adjusted volume of retail trade in November 2020 decreased by 2 per cent in the EU and by 2.9 per cent in the euro area.

In the euro area, the hardest-hit sector was that of automotive fuels which decreased by 10.6 per cent from October while that of non-food products shrunk by 8.9 per cent.

In the EU, the volume of retail trade was down by 7.7 per cent for automotive fuels, and by 7.3 per cent for non-food products.

The largest month-on-month decreases in the total retail trade volume were observed in France (-18 per cent), Belgium (-15.9 per cent) and Austria (-9.9 per cent).

The highest increases were registered in the Netherlands (+2.6 per cent), Croatia (+2.5 per cent) and Germany (+1.9 per cent).