TEPE, which will be disclosed with seasonally-adjusted data as of April 2011, continued the downwards trend and stood at 1.9 in April 2011.

TEPE that has been decreasing since February 2011, continued this trend and stood at 1.9 in April 2011. Thus, TEPE decreased by 0.7 points month-on-month and increased by 7.7 points year-on-year.

TEPE results are being shared with the public since December 2009 and the index has a thirty-six month series as of April 2011. As of April 2011, seasonally adjusted TEPE results will be shared with the Tramo-Seats method. Seasonally adjusted series enable a healthier analysis of the TEPE trends.

In April 2011, equilibrium value for the expectations for the next three months stood at 12.8. 53.3 percent of the TEPE survey participants expected an increase in business activities in the next three month while 24.2 percent expected a deterioration in business activities in April 2011. This implies a 11.3 percent improvement compared to April 2010 and a 9.1 percent deterioration compared to March 2011.

The difference between the participants who declared a year-on-year improvement in business activities and who declared a year-on-year deterioration in business activities increased by 21.1 points and 0.8 points compared to April 2010 and March 2011, respectively.

In April 2011, EU-27 Retail Index stood at -3.5 percent indicating a month-on-month decrease of 4.1 points and a year-on-year decrease at 4 points. EY-27 Retail Index, which remained below the TEPE in the first three months of 2011, maintained this trend with a negative value in April 2011.

Analysis of the performance of sub-sectors reveals that compared to April 2010, motor vehicles held the best performance in April 2010. Non-specialized stores sector and food, beverages and tobacco products sector performed better than the average whereas furniture and lighting equipments sector, electrical appliances, radio and television sector, and others sector performed worse than the average. Textile, ready-made clothing and footwear sector had a relatively worse performance than that in the month before.

Detailed results of the TEPE survey questions reveal a strong year-on-year improvement in the business activities compared to the last year and last three months and orders placed with suppliers over the next three months and considerable improvements in other factors. On the other hand, expectations for the sales over the next three months deteriorated compared to March 2011.