German retailers log another month of shrinking revenues

Fresh statistics show that Germany's retail sector struggled in April to boost sales, despite strong consumer confidence shown in surveys. The retailers' association says it expects sales to pick up later this year. 

German retailers earned less in April in what marked the third consecutive month of shrinking sales in the sector, the National Statistics Office, Destatis, reported Friday.

Sales fell by 0.4 percent month-on-month in price, seasonally and calendar-adjusted terms, while economists polled by Reuters news agency had penciled in a 0.2-percent rise for April.

On a year-on-year basis, though, revenues increased by 1.8 percent, but economists said that was partly because there were two more shopping days in April this year than in the same month in 2012.