Italian retail trade rose marginally in July as large-scale food distribution pushed up sales, the latest data showed.
Retail sales increased by 0.4% in value from June and by 2.7% in unadjusted year-on-year terms, national statistics institute ISTAT said.
Sales in large-scale distribution were up 5.5% on the year, with food distribution, in particular discount supermarkets, increasing by 7.1%, ISTAT said.
The data was expressed in value terms and was not adjusted for consumer prices, which increased by 6.4% in July from the year earlier, based on Italy's EU-harmonised index (HICP).
Increasing Value In Sales
'On a yearly basis, there is a persistent trend of an increasing value in sales, especially in the food sector, as opposed to a decrease in volumes,' ISTAT said, as non-food products drove lower volumes.
Volumes declined by 4.5% year-on-year, compared to a 1.0% drop in the euro zone, and edged down by 0.2% on the month, in line with the other members of the currency bloc.
Italy's economy has slowed down in recent months, with GDP falling by 0.4% in the second quarter compared with the previous three months, revised data showed in September.
ISTAT singled out the negative impact of the domestic component on the reading.
Elsewhere, the Italian government met with supermarkets and small retailers' associations on Wednesday (6 September) to address stubborn inflation in the prices of consumer staples.
The government has been trying for weeks to negotiate an agreement between producers and retailers to cap prices of food and other essentials from October to December. But sources close to the plans said on 3 August that Rome had not managed to get support from industry associations.
