Retail trade volume up by 8% in January

Johanna Linda Pihlak, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that the volume of turnover was unchanged in December year on year but started to increase in January. “The rise in retail trade volume in January was mostly due to enterprises engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel, as their turnover volume rose by 4% compared with January 2025. The main reason for this was the fall in motor fuel prices,” explained Pihlak.

“The turnover of enterprises engaged in the retail sale of automotive fuel does not only include the sale of motor fuels but reflects total sales, including income from food service, for example, and provision of other goods and services,” she added.

Compared with January 2025, the volume of turnover increased by 13% in stores selling manufactured goods and decreased by 2% in grocery stores. “The decline in the turnover volume of grocery stores was again related to the rising prices of food products,” said Pihlak.

Compared with December, the turnover volume of retail trade enterprises was down by 14% in January. “This was the usual decline that follows Christmas and year-end sales,” said Pihlak. According to the seasonally and working-day adjusted data, turnover volume was up by 4% in comparison with the previous month.

Changes in the publication of retail trade data

Starting from 2026, we no longer publish data on several retail trade activities; the data are now published under more general activities (table KM020 does not yet include the relevant general activities, but these will be added as soon as possible). The change is related to the implementation of EMTAK 2025, the new version of the Estonian Classification of Economic Activities. Statistics Estonia will continue to publish retail trade data according to the previous version EMTAK 2008 until the end of 2027, but the Business Register only uses EMTAK 2025 starting from 2025. The central principle of EMTAK 2025 is that classification should be based on the item sold, while classification according to EMTAK 2008 is based on the type of sales channel (store, market, online store). Therefore, it is not always possible to provide exact correspondence between EMTAK 2008 and EMTAK 2025 and the data are not comparable due to lack of information about the enterprise’s sales channel. For example, an enterprise engaged in retail sale via mail order houses or via internet according to EMTAK 2008 might be classified under the retail sale of consumer electronics, clothing or household equipment according to EMTAK 2025, depending on the specific goods sold. Since registers do not contain information about the sales channel, it would be difficult to classify the enterprise under “Retail sale via mail order houses or via internet”.

More information about the publication of statistics according to EMTAK 2025 is available on Statistics Estonia’s website.

Retail trade data are published according to the main economic activity of enterprises registered in Estonia. 

Turnover volume index – an index that expresses the change in the volume of sales of goods at constant prices compared with the sales in a previous period. Price indices of goods are used in the calculation of the turnover volume index.

The statistics are based on the VAT declaration data of the Estonian Tax and Customs Board. Statistics Estonia performs the statistical activity “Financial statistics of trade enterprises (monthly)” for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications in order to determine how the Estonian economy is doing. 

Data as at 2 March 2026 are published. The indicator values may change if there are any revisions made in the data sources after this date.

See also the internal trade section on our website. The data have been published in the statistical database.

When using Statistics Estonia’s data and graphs, please indicate the source.

For further information:

Kaia-Liisa Tabri
Communications Partner
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel +372 5196 9617
press [at] stat.ee (press[at]stat[dot]ee)

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