Price-adjusted retail sales rose 1.1% last month after a 0.4% decline in April, according to figures from Destatis, surprising economists who had pencilled in a 0.1% fall. This was the biggest monthly increase since June 2025.
That represented a 1.8% increase over May 2025, compared with the 0% annual growth expected by analysts and the 0.6% year-on-year decline seen in April.
Sales from petrol stations were partly responsible for the monthly growth, rising 3.5% compared with the previous month, as a result of fuel discounts introduced by the government at the start of May. Taxes on diesel and petrol were cut by €0.17 a litre for May and June.
Petrol station sales had fallen 5.2% in April and 2.7% in March following the outbreak of the Iran war which sent fuel prices soaring to multi-year highs.
"The development of petrol station sales in May 2026 was again striking, resulting from the war in the Middle East and the political countermeasures in Germany (fuel discount from May 1 to June 30, 2026)," Destatis said.
Meanwhile, food sales rose 1.1%, non-food sales rose 1.0%, and online and mail-order sales jumped 3.4%.