TEPE, which has been moving in the negative zone since November 2010, met 2011 in the positive zone.

TEPE stood at 0.8 percent in January 2011. TEPE demonstrated 9.7 points of month-on-month increase and 18.3 points of year-on-year increase.

In January 2011 expectations for the next three year improved by 18.8 points compared to the previous month. 36.6% of TEPE survey participants expect improvement in the business activities in the next three months whereas 24.4 percent expect deterioration in business activities. This implies an increase by 30.8 points compared to January 2010.

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 30.4 points compared to January 2010 and decreased by 2.7 points compared to December 2010.

In January 2011 EU-27 Retail Index stood at -0.6 indicating a month-on-month drop by 2.8 points and a year-on-year increase by 4.6 points. Thus, EU Retail Index which varied above TEPE since October 2010 fell below TEPE by January 2011.

Analysis of the performance of sub-sectors reveals that in January 2011 electrical households articles, radio and televisions; motor vehicles, textile, ready made clothing; furniture and lighting equipments n.e.c. sectors performed better than the rest. On the other hand, food, beverages and tobacco products and others sector performed relatively weakly. In the examined period non-specialized stores had an average performance.

Detailed results of the TEPE survey questions reveal a steep recovery compared to the year and the month before. All indicators except the year-on-year improvement in business activities are dominated by positive expectations. Expectations for sales, employment and orders placed with   suppliers reveal that retailers are hopeful about 2011. On the other hand, high expectations for the sales prices for the next three months are striking.