KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade has set a new sales record in May 2022, growing by 19.9% year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM129.8 billion – the highest sales recorded since 2013, said the Statistics Department.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin attributed the increase to the retail trade sub-sector, which rose by RM13.0 billion or 29.9% y-o-y to RM56.3 billion, adding that wholesale trade also expanded 11.7% y-o-y or RM6.3 billion to RM59.6 billion.
“Sales of motor vehicles also surged 20.1% y-o-y or RM2.3 billion to RM13.9 billion.
“Generally, the overall increase of RM21.5 billion in wholesale and retail trade can be attributed to the lifting of the movement restriction, which enabled Hari Raya Aidilfitri to be celebrated joyfully,” he said in a statement today.
Uzir said the retail trade sub-sector’s growth was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which grew 36.3% or RM5.5 billion to RM20.7 billion.
“Likewise, other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth, including retail sales in specialised stores (+30.8%), retail sales of automotive fuels (+54.6%), retail sales of household goods (+23.7%), and retail sales of food, beverages, and tobacco (+21.4%).
“Other groups also recorded positive growth, namely retail sales of cultural and recreation goods (+20.1%), retail sales of information and communication equipment (+8.0%), retail sales not in stores, stalls or market (+27.0%), and retail sales in stalls and market (+24.0%),” he said.
Meanwhile, the expansion in wholesale trade was mainly due to the growth in the wholesale of household goods, which increased 22.1% or RM2.2 billion to RM11.9 billion.
Groups that contributed to the growth include other specialised wholesale (+8.8%), wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals (+17.7%), wholesale of food, beverages, and tobacco (+7.4%), wholesale of machinery, equipment and supplies (+10.1%), wholesale on a fee or contract basis (+12.0%), and non-specialised wholesale trade (+3.8%).
On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, the sales value of wholesale and retail trade in May 2022 increased by 1.4% from April 2022, contributed by the retail trade sub-sector which rose by 5.1%.
Uzir said the index of retail sales over the internet for May 2022 also recorded a 25.9% growth y-o-y (April 2022: 24.9%).
In terms of volume index, the department reported that wholesale and retail trade for May 2022 registered a y-o-y growth of 14.7%, driven by the retail trade and motor vehicles segments which increased by 24.2% and 21.5%, respectively.
Similarly, wholesale trade also recorded a positive growth of 3.1%. – Bernama, July 8, 2022
