Retail trade grows in Russia

Retail trade volume amounted to 379bn rubles ($12.38bn) in Russia in August 2003, which was 6.1 percent higher than in August 2002, the Russian State Statistics Committee reported.

According to the committee, retail trade was some 2.897 trillion rubles ($94.67bn) in Russia in the period from January to August 2003, which was 8.4 percent more than in the corresponding period of last year.

The share of trading organizations in the structure of retail trade in August 2003 was 75.9 percent, while the share of markets was 24.1 percent. In August 2002 this ratio was 75.7 percent and 24.3 percent respectively.

The share of food products in the structure of retail trade was 46.2 percent in August 2003 and the share of non-food products was 53.8 percent. In August 2002 it was 45.6 percent and 54.4 percent respectively.