KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade sector recorded RM141.1 billion in sales value, a 5.5 per cent increase year-on-year (y-o-y) in February 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
In a statement today, Chief Statistician Datuk Sri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase was driven by the retail trade subsector, which rose 5.8 per cent or RM3.4 billion to register RM61.5 billion.
“Retail trade’s growth of 5.8 per cent year-on-year was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which grew 6.7 per cent, or RM1.5 billion, to RM23.6 billion.
“Other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth, namely retail sales in specialised stores (9.5 per cent); food, beverages and tobacco (8.0 per cent); household goods (4.0 per cent), automotive fuel (3.4 per cent), cultural and recreation goods (5.4 per cent); not in stores, stalls, or markets (1.0 per cent); and retail sales via stalls and markets (3.3 per cent),” he said.
For monthly comparison, the -0.9 per cent negative growth from the previous month was contributed by wholesale trade, which slipped -2.3 per cent, followed by the motor vehicles sub-sector, which contracted -1.4 per cent.
Uzir said the negative growth in wholesale trade was mainly contributed by the decrease in wholesale of food, beverages, and tobacco (-5.6 per cent); other specialised wholesale (-1.3 per cent), wholesale of machinery, equipment, and supplies (-4.3 per cent); and household goods (-1.3 per cent).
Commenting on the wholesale trade sub-sector, he said the wholesale trade expanded by registering 5.2 per cent or RM3.1 billion to RM62.2 billion, followed by motor vehicles with a growth of 5.4 per cent or RM0.9 billion to settle at RM17.4 billion.
“The increase of 5.2 per cent year-on-year in February was supported by other specialised wholesale, which rose RM1.6 billion or 7.4 per cent to RM23.7 billion.
“This was followed by wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco (4.0 per cent); household goods (3.7 per cent), agricultural raw materials and live animals (5.6 per cent); non-specialised wholesale trade (5.4 per cent), machinery, equipment and supplies (1.7 per cent), and wholesale on a fee or contract basis (0.8 per cent),” Uzir said.
The 5.4 per cent year-on-year growth for the motor vehicles subsector was fueled by sales of motor vehicle parts and accessories, which surged 13.7 per cent, or RM0.6 billion, to a record RM4.9 billion.
“This was followed by maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (14.1 per cent) and the sales of motor vehicles (0.2 per cent).
“Conversely, for monthly comparison, this sub-sector contracted -1.4 per cent due to sales of motor vehicles, which dived to -4.5 per cent,” he said.
Meanwhile, for the index of retail sales over the Internet, it went up 0.4 per cent y-o-y in February 2024 as compared to -1.6 per cent in January 2024.
However, for seasonally adjusted value, the index edged up 0.4 per cent as against the previous month.
Additionally, Uzir said the wholesale and retail trade for February 2024 registered a y-o-y growth of 3.9 per cent in terms of volume index.
“The expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors, namely retail trade (4.5 per cent), wholesale trade (4.3 per cent), and motor vehicles (2.6 per cent),” he said.
— Bernama
