Sales in Finland's specialty retail trade have started the year with vigour.

According to Statistics Finland, specialty retail sales grew 7.7% during the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2011.

Clothing, shoes and leathergoods sales rose by 12% during the three-month period, while furniture, lighting, carpet, textile and home material sales were up 1.1%.

Sales of telecommunications devices soared by 29.6% year-on-year, while sales of computers grew 14.8% and sports equipment revenues rose 14.1%.

In March, the fastest sales growth was in sports equipment (+16.4%), computers, peripheral devices and software (+14.7%), flowers, plants, seeds and fertiliser (13.6%), and clothing, shoes and leathergoods (+12.4%).

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