KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia recorded wholesale and retail trade sales of RM110.5 billion in October 2020, down by 0.8% year-on-year (y-o-y), according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this negative growth was due to a 1.5% (RM0.7 billion) contraction in retail trade to RM44.2 billion and a 0.9% (RM0.5 billion) decrease in wholesale trade to RM53.4 billion.
On the other hand, the motor vehicles sub-sector continued to record a positive sales growth of RM0.3 billion or 2.2% y-o-y to RM12.9 billion.
However, the sub-sector’s month-on-month (m-o-m) sales value slipped 0.5% in October 2020 compared to September partly due to resurgence of Covid-19 cases which led to the enhanced movement control order being reimposed in certain targeted areas and the implementation of the conditional movement control orders in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.
Mohd Uzir said the negative growth of 1.5% for the retail trade was due to declining sales of non-essential products, namely sales in specialised stores (-7.4%) as well as sales of household goods (-4.0%), cultural and recreational goods (-4.6%), and information and communications equipment (-1.9%).
“However, sales of essential goods depicted a positive y-o-y growth, with sales in non-specialised stores registering 4.4% growth to RM15.9 billion. This was followed by retail sale of food, beverages and tobacco which rose 6.1% to RM2.7 billion.
“Retail trade not in stores, stalls or markets also expanded 8.3% to RM0.4 billion, followed by retail sale via stalls and markets which increased 7.0% to RM0.1 billion,” he said.
In another note, Mohd Uzir said for wholesale trade, the fall of 0.9% y-o-y in October was mainly due to other specialised wholesale and wholesale on a fee or contract basis which declined 6.1% and 3.6%, respectively.
“However, wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco grew 3.8% to settle at RM10.1 billion, followed by household goods which increased 3.1% to RM11.0 billion. Similarly, wholesale of machinery, equipment and supplies also expanded 1.7% y-o-y to generate sales of RM4.6 billion,” he explained.
On the motor vehicles sub-sector, he said sales of motor vehicles spearheaded the growth with 6.4% y-o-y to RM7.2 billion, followed by sale, maintenance and repair of motorcycles which rose 4.7% to RM1.1 billion.
However, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles shrank 4.3% compared to the corresponding month of 2019 to record RM1.5 billion worth of sales, with sale of motor vehicles parts and accessories also decreasing 4.5% to RM3.1 billion, he noted.
For the m-o-m negative growth of 0.5%, it was dragged down by retail trade with -1.4% or a decrease of RM0.6 billion, he said, adding similarly, motor vehicle sales decreased RM0.8 billion or -5.8% within the same period.
In contrast, he said, wholesale trade increased 1.7% or an additional of RM0.9 billion m-o-m.
Mohd Uzir said online retail sales index, which shows e-commerce activity, surged to record 26.3% growth y-o-y.
For seasonally adjusted retail sales index, it went down 5.4% against the previous month, he said.
“In terms of volume index, wholesale and retail trade registered a negative growth of -1.4% y-o-y. The fall was due to retail trade which decreased 2.8% followed by wholesale trade which contracted 0.8%.“In contrast, motor vehicles recorded a positive growth of 1.7%. As for seasonal adjusted volume index, it inched down 1.4% m-o-m,” he added. – Bernama, December 10, 2020
