Bank of France: French retail sales plunged 24% in March, EUR/USD at fresh lows

The latest data published by the Bank of France showed on Wednesday, the country’s retail sales dived 24% in March when compared to the previous month, mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic led lockdown measures.

Key details

Sales of industrial goods fell by 43%

Food sales down by only 0.9%

Retail sales fell by 7.2% in Q1 vs. the previous quarter. 

Department store sales plunged by 19.3%, which was partly offset by a rise in supermarket (+7.4%) and hypermarket (+1.7%) sales.