Euro zone retail sales were far weaker than expected in August as producer prices rose at their fastest annual rate since May 2001, Eurostat data showed on Monday. Sales in the dozen-member bloc fell by 1.3 percent from the previous month and declined by 0.4 percent from a year earlier. That was below economists' expectations of a 0.1 percent monthly decline and a 1.4 percent year-on-year increase. Moreover, Eurostat revised down July retail sales data to show they stagnated on a monthly basis and rose 0.9 percent on an annual one. It had previously estimated sales rose 0.4 percent month-on-month and climbed 1.1 percent year-on-year. Euro zone producer prices rose 0.4 percent from a month earlier and 3.1 percent from a year ago. That was in line with the consensus forecast of economists polled by and followed an annual increase of 2.9 percent in July. A Eurostat official said energy prices were exerting the biggest upward impact on factory gate prices in August. A breakdown of the producer price data, which is a key indicator of pipeline inflation pressures, showed energy prices rose 1.4 percent from a month earlier and 5.4 percent from a year ago. Both were the biggest increases since May and came the month before oil prices hit new record highs. ////