DoSM says wholesale, retail trade up 41% in July 2022

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade value hit RM130.7 billion in July 2022, registering 41% growth year-on-year (y-o-y) due to an increase in the retail trade sub-sector, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM). 

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the retail trade sub-sector rose RM15.4 billion, or 37.5%, to RM56.6 billion.

“Motor vehicles expanded 613.8%, or RM12.4 billion, to RM14.4 billion,” he said in a statement today. 

Within the same period, he said wholesale trade surged 20.6%, or RM10.2 billion, to RM59.7 billion, however, on a month-on-month comparison, the sales value decreased 1.6%, contributed by the motor vehicles sub-sector which sank 10.5%.

On the performance across sub-sectors, he pointed out that the retail trade sub-sector growth of 37.5% in July 2022 was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which grew 39.1%, or RM5.9 billion, to RM20.8 billion.

“Likewise, other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth namely retail sales in specialised stores (47.1%), retail sales of automotive fuels (73.7%), and retail sales of household goods (28.8%),” he said.

Uzir said the 613.8% growth in the motor vehicles sub-sector this month was lifted by sales of motor vehicles by 431.5%, or RM5.7 billion, to RM7.0 billion, followed by sales of motor vehicle parts and accessories; maintenance and repair of motor vehicles; as well as sales, maintenance and repair of motorcycles.

“Increase in wholesale trade sub-sector with 20.6% was mainly attributed to other specialised wholesale (22.0%),” he said. 

He noted that among the groups that contributed to this growth were wholesale of household goods (35.0%); wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals (17.8%); wholesale of machinery, equipment and supplies (20.0%); and wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco (7.2%).

In terms of volume index, Uzir said wholesale and retail trade registered y-o-y growth of 33.7%, contributed by motor vehicles and retail trade which increased by 681.6% and 31.6%, respectively. Similarly, wholesale trade also recorded a positive growth of 10.8%.

However, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the volume index went down 1.4% month on month. – Bernama, September 12, 2022