German suppliers of textiles, clothing, shoes and leather goods recovered strongly in January. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Monday, citing preliminary figures, sales in this segment were more than three times as high as in the same month last year, when shop closures as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic had severely affected business.
In nominal terms, revenues in these categories increased by a total of 240.2 percent compared to January 2021. In real terms – i.e. adjusted for the effects of price developments – they increased by 241.2 percent. Compared to the previous month of December, however, sales of textiles, clothing, shoes and leather goods shrank by 8.6 percent in real terms. The pre-crisis level was also clearly missed: According to the Wiesbaden authorities, the division’s revenues were 25.9 percent below the figure for February 2020.
Overall, retail sales in Germany rose by a nominal 3.0 percent and a real 2.0 percent month-on-month in January. Compared to January 2021, it grew by 14.2 percent in nominal terms and by 10.3 percent in real terms. “Following the decline in sales in December 2021, retail was able to recover at the beginning of the year despite the 2G rules still in force,” said the Federal Statistical Office in a statement. Compared to February 2020, retail sales in January were “4.1 percent higher in real, calendar and seasonally adjusted terms”.
In addition to the textile and leather goods industry, “other retail trade with goods of various kinds” was also able to achieve strong growth compared to the same month last year. In this category, which includes department stores, for example, sales were 64.8 percent nominal and 59.9 percent in real terms above the level of January 2021. In internet and mail order sales, nominal sales were 3.7 percent year-on-year percent and by 6.2 percent in real terms. However, the level of February 2020 was exceeded by 26.4 percent in this segment.