ROMANIA: Food, beverages and tobacco sales rose by 19.1% last year | Progresiv

Food, beverages and tobacco sales increased last year by 19.1% compared with 2014, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS).

Following the actions taken by the control bodies in the tax area and also the reduction of VAT on foods, sales of food, beverages and tobacco experienced significant growth over the past year, the peak being reached in September, when the increase was over 27% compared to the same month of the previous year.

In December,  food and beverages gross sales increased by 25.3% over the same month of 2014 and those reported by seasonality and number of working days increased by 26.3%, according to INS.

Compared to November 2015, trade of food, beverages and tobacco rose in December, by 23.3% based on gross sales and by 0.3% depending on the number of working days and seasonality.

Overall, retail trade, excluding motor vehicles, rose by 8.9% last year.