Wholesale, retail trade sales value exceeds RM100 billion for third time this year

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade sales value exceeded RM100 billion for the third time this year, with RM103.7 billion recorded in May 2018, said the Statistics Department.

For January 2018 and March 2018, the sales value recorded RM101.1 billion and RM103.8 billion respectively, said the department in its “Volume Index of Wholesale & Retail Trade, May 2018” released yesterday.

In terms of growth, the sales value increased 7.0 per cent as compared to the corresponding period in 2017, driven by the retail trade (9.3 per cent) and wholesale trade (7.8 per cent), it said.

“The volume index of wholesale and retail trade rose 5.8 per cent to 166.1 points in May 2018 as compared to May 2017, supported by the expansion in both retail trade (7.5 per cent) and wholesale trade (7.0 per cent),” it said.

The Statistics Department said the seasonally adjusted volume index of wholesale and retail trade increased 1.4 per cent over the preceding month.

Meanwhile, the volume index of wholesale trade grew 7.0 per cent to 181.2 points in May 2018 as compared to May 2017.

It said on a month-on-month basis, this volume index (seasonally adjusted) recorded a positive growth of 1.3 per cent against the previous month.

“The wholesale trade regained its momentum to record a sales value of RM50.5 billion, expanded 7.8 per cent compared to the previous year while on a month-on-month basis, this business rose 4.0 per cent,” said the department.

For the retail trade, the Statistics Department said, its volume index registered a growth rate of 7.5 per cent to 166.3 points in May 2018 while the seasonally adjusted volume index of retail trade increased by 3.1 per cent compared with April 2018. — Bernama