2026.09.2910:39:04UTC+00Latvia Retail Sales Growth Slows

Retail sales in Latvia increased by 3.5% year-on-year in August 2026, easing from a downwardly revised 6.8% rise in July and marking the weakest growth since April. The overall slowdown reflected softer increases across all main categories: food products (2.3% vs 2.6% in July), non-food products excluding automotive fuel (3.9% vs 9.6%), and automotive fuel (4.3% vs 8.2%).

Within the non-food segment, growth moderated for information and communication equipment (6.7% vs 10.4%), hardware, construction materials and sanitary equipment (3.1% vs 17.3%), pharmaceutical and medical goods (8.1% vs 8.6%), and electrical household appliances (0.7% vs 6.2%). Sales of clothing, footwear and leather goods stalled (0.0% vs 10.1%), while sales in non-specialised stores swung into decline (-1.5% vs 10.2%).

By contrast, some categories showed stronger momentum: sales via mail order or the Internet accelerated (15.3% vs 14.8%), as did sales of cosmetic and toilet articles (3.6% vs 2.9%). Meanwhile, sales via stalls and markets dropped by 9.3%.

On a month-on-month basis, total retail sales fell 1.4% in August, reversing a downwardly revised 2.2% increase in July.