Hungary Retail Sales Steady at 3.5% in January

Retail sales in Hungary rose 3.5% year-on-year in January 2026, unchanged from the previous month. Sales rose faster for automotive fuel (5.7% vs 1.7% in December 2025). Additionally, non-food sales increased (4.7% vs 4.4%), particularly in textiles, clothing, and footwear (6.7% vs 1.2%), computer equipment and others (4.4% vs 2.8%) and books, computer equipment and others (3.3% vs 2.4%). On the other hand, growth in food retailing eased (1.2% vs 2.0%), reflecting steeper declines in specialized food and beverage stores (-6.5% vs -3.2%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade edged up 0.5%, following a 0.4% increase in the previous month.

Retail sales in Hungary grew by 3.5% year-on-year in December 2025, accelerating from a 2.5% rise in the previous month. This was the highest increase since April, driven mainly by a faster rise in automotive fuel sales (1.7% vs 0.7% in November). Meanwhile, growth in food retailing eased (2.1% vs 2.6%), reflecting smaller gains in non-specialized food and beverage stores (3.3% vs 4.3%), which account for about 78% of total food retail sales. Non-food sales also slowed down (4.3% vs 4.6%), particularly in cosmetics (11.0% vs 14.1%) and mail-order and online sales (2.8% vs 11.7%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail trade rose by 0.2%, following a 0.1% increase in December. For 2025 as a whole, retail sales went up by 2.9%, higher than the 2.6% rise recorded in 2024.

Retail sales in Hungary increased by 2.5% year-on-year in November 2025, slowing from a six-month high of 3.1% in the previous month. Growth in non-food product sales moderated to 4.6% from a six-month high of5.2% in October, particularly in miscellaneous industrial goods, while sales remained subdued in textiles, clothing and footwear, books, computers and other industrial goods, computer technology and other industrial goods, and medicine and medical products. In contrast, retail activity strengthened in food and food-related products (2.6% vs. 1.2%) and in automotive fuel (0.7% vs 0.6%). On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales rose 0.1% in November, easing from a 0.5% increase in the prior period. Over the January-November 2025 period, retail trade was up 2.8% compared to the same period last year.