Retail sales in Macedonia declined by 2.3% year-on-year in July 2025, ending a two-month rising streak and sharply reversing a 13% surge in June, which had marked the strongest growth since August 2021. The renewed downturn reflected weaker demand across most major categories. Sales of food, beverages, and tobacco fell 0.4% after soaring 22.5% in June, while non-food product sales dropped 6.6%, reversing from 5.2% growth previously. In addition, sales of automotive fuel rose by only 2.2%, a notable slowdown from 8.3% in the prior month. Excluding fuel, overall retail trade contracted by 3.4% in July, compared with a robust 13.9% increase in June.