German retail sales rose by 1.0 percent in November, the National Statistics Office (Destatis) reported Wednesday.

The pickup came on the back of a 2.0-percent increase in the pervious month, marking the second monthly improvement in a row despite a volatile international business environment.

However, retail prices in November were down by 0.8 percent compared with the same month last year. The data is a closely watched measure of domestic household confidence.

Mixed picture

The biggest drop was recorded in revenue from food items, beverages and tobacco, the stats office noted, citing a decline of 3.2 percent in that category.

Taking the 11 months to November 2014, German retail turnover was up 1.1 percent over the same period in 2013.

Destatis said it expected retail sales for the whole year to have increased by between 1.1 and 1.3 percent year on year, with December figures not yet available from all German states.

hg/pad (dpa, AFP)