UK Retail Sales Recover In December

(RTTNews) - UK retail sales rebounded in December as online jewellers reported a renewed increase in demand for precious metals, the Office for National Statistics said Friday.

A closely watched survey today showed that British consumer confidence improved in January but continued to remain negative for about ten years.

Retail sales increased 0.4 percent in December, in contrast to the 0.1 percent fall in November. Economists expected no change in the sales volume in December. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales moved up 0.3 percent, reversing November's 0.4 percent drop. The monthly increase confounded economists' forecast of 0.2 percent fall.

Food store sales gained 0.2 percent and auto fuel sales increased 1.0 percent. Non-store retailers rebounded, with online jewellers confirming renewed demand for precious metals. Meanwhile, non-food store sales declined 0.9 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales growth accelerated to 2.5 percent from 1.8 percent in the previous month. Sales were expected to climb only 1.0 percent.

Similarly, sales volume, excluding auto fuel, grew at a faster pace of 3.1 percent, following November's 2.6 percent increase. The rate was far better than forecast of 1.4 percent.

In 2025, sales volume rose 1.3 percent with increases in both food and non-food stores, as well as non-store retailers. This followed a rise of 0.2 percent in 2024.

In the three months to December, sales volumes fell 0.3 percent compared with the three months to September. Compared to the last year, sales volumes rose 2.1 percent.

Elsewhere, a monthly survey published jointly by GfK and the Nuremberg Institute for Market Decisions showed that the British consumer confidence rose one point to -16 in January.

Three measures of the CCI were up, and two were down, compared to December. "We remain a long way from consumers feeling that better days are around the corner," GfK Consumer Insights Director?Neil Bellamy said.

"To many consumers, the UK economy is beginning to resemble an untethered boat drifting slowly out to sea," Bellamy added.