ANKARA

The UK's retail sales volumes declined for the fifth consecutive month in September, down by 0.2% month-on-month, according to the country’s statistical authority on Friday.

This is the longest period of consecutive monthly falls ever, the Office of National Statistics said in a statement.

The reading followed an upwardly revised 0.6% fall in August.

"Despite the fall in September, volumes were 4.2% higher than their pre-coronavirus pandemic February 2020 levels," it said.

Retail sales in September were pulled down by lower sales in non-food stores which were down 1.4%. This was driven by household goods stores (down 9.3%), such as furniture and lighting stores, and other non-food stores (down 1.7%) such as sports equipment stores.

Automotive fuel sales volumes climbed 2.9% on a monthly basis in September thanks to rising demand.

Food store sales volumes rose by 0.6% last month.

Compared to the same month of last year, retail sales volume fell 1.3% in September 2021.