Wholesale, retail trade sales value rises to RM103.8 billion in March
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade sales value rose by 6.5 per cent to RM103.8 billion in March 2018 as compared to the corresponding period in 2017.
In a statement yesterday, the Statistics Department said the sales value comprised wholesale trade (RM50.7 billion), retail trade (RM40.8 billion) and motor vehicles business (RM12.3 billion).
The positive growth was contributed by the retail and wholesale trade businesses which rose by 8.6 per cent and 8.0 per cent respectively, it said in its ‘Volume Index of Wholesale & Retail Trade, March 2018’ released yesterday.
“The volume index of wholesale and retail trade rose 5.4 per cent to 168.3 points in March 2018 as compared to March 2017, supported by an increase in wholesale trade (7.0 per cent) and retail trade (6.4 per cent).
The Statistics Department said the seasonally adjusted volume index of wholesale and retail trade decreased by 0.2 per cent as com- pared to the preceding month.
Meanwhile, the volume index of wholesale trade grew 7.0 per cent to 178.6 points in March 2018 as compared to March 2017.
It said on a month-on-month basis, this volume index (seasonally adjusted) recorded positive growth of 0.9 per cent as against the previous month.
“The sales value of the wholesale trade business registered a 8.0 per cent growth to RM50.7 billion as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year. On a month-on-month basis, this business registered positive growth 6.8 per cent,” it added.
The department said that for the retail business, volume index rose 6.4 per cent to 173.6 points in March 2018 as compared to the same month of the previous year, while the seasonally adjusted volume index of retail trade increased by 0.5 per cent compared with February 2018.
“The retail trade business recorded an increase in sales value to RM40.8 billion or 8.6 per cent as compared to a year, while month-on-month, the sales value of this business registered positive growth of 4.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, the volume index of motor vehicles recorded negative growth 3.7 per cent to 127.7 points in March 2018.The seasonally-adjusted volume index decreased 5.0 per cent in March 2018 as against February 2018.