NZ’s wholesale trade on the rise

New Zealand’s wholesale trade rose for the

11th straight quarter with kiwifruit exports the standout performer.

Seasonally adjusted sales increased 2.5 per cent in the three months ended September 30 after a 2.6 per cent rise in the June quarter, Statistics New Zealand said.

Five of the six wholesaling industries were up in the September 2018 quarter. The largest industry increase was in grocery, liquor, and tobacco wholesaling, which was up 4.1 per cent.

“This industry’s increase was led by higher sales for kiwifruit exports,” wholesale trade manager Sue Chapman said.

Wholesale trade covers intermediary transactions between manufacturers and consumers, which feeds into the national accounts and is used by economists to predict wider economic activity.

Sales of basic materials, which includes some agricultural products such as hides and stock feed, hardware goods, metals, minerals, petroleum, and timber wholesaling, rose 3.4 per cent, while machinery and equipment gained 1.7 per cent.

Other goods, such as clothing and footwear, pharmaceutical and toiletry goods, and paper products, increased 0.2 per cent, and commission-based wholesale sales rose

6 per cent.

The only sub-group that fell was the motor vehicle and motor-vehicle parts in- dustry, which dipped 0.2 per cent after lifting 3.6 per cent in June.

“Toyota New Zealand changed their operating model in April. As a result, there’s some shift in activity and stocks from retail trade into the wholesale trade sector,” Chapman said.