German retail sales fell sharply in March as the Middle East conflict weighed on consumer demand and pushed up fuel-related spending in nominal terms, official data showed Thursday.
Retail sales in Europe's largest economy declined 2% in real terms from the previous month, after calendar and seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary figures from Federal Statistical Office (Destatis).
The drop was steeper than market expectations of a 0.3% decline, following an upwardly revised 0.3% fall in February.
On an annual basis, retail sales also fell 2% in real terms, indicating that weaker volumes outweighed price effects.
Destatis said petrol station sales showed a particularly notable decline, falling 5.6% from the previous month, suggesting consumers bought less fuel by volume despite higher prices. The category also includes purchases at petrol station shops.
Food retail sales dropped 2.7% on a monthly basis and were down 3.3% compared with a year earlier.
Non-food retail trade declined 1% from February and fell 0.6% year-on-year.
Online and mail-order sales were the only bright spot, rising 3% month-on-month and 5.9% annually, bucking the broader downward trend.
