Malaysia: Wholesale and retail trade up 4.3% in June to RM138.5bil – DoSM

• Aug 09, 2023

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade recorded a monthly sales value of RM138.5 billion, an increase of 4.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in June 2023, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase of 4.3 per cent for wholesale and retail trade in June 2023 was attributed to the retail trade sub-sector, which rose 5.8 per cent or RM3.2 billion to register RM59.4 billion.

“Wholesale trade also expanded by registering 3.1 per cent or RM1.9 billion to RM62.4 billion, followed by motor vehicles with an increase of 3.4 per cent or RM0.6 billion to settle at RM16.7 billion,” he said in a statement today.

For month-on-month (m-o-m) comparison, the sales value of wholesale and retail trade inched up 0.3 per cent or RM0.5 billion.

On the performance across sub-sectors, Mohd Uzir said retail trade’s 5.8 per cent growth for the month was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which continued its upward trend to register 10.9 per cent or RM2.2 billion to RM22.8 billion.

Meanwhile, the increase of 3.1 per cent in wholesale trade was attributed to the wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco, which rose RM0.9 billion or 7.8 per cent to RM12.2 billion.

Mohd Uzir said the 3.4 per cent growth for the motor vehicles sub-sector during the month was pushed up by sales of motor vehicles parts and accessories; and maintenance and repair motor vehicles with 18.3 per cent and 20.0 per cent, respectively.

He said that, however, sales of motor vehicles declined 3.8 per cent.

“In terms of volume index, wholesale & retail trade for June 2023 registered a y-o-y growth of 3.1 per cent — the expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors, namely wholesale trade (4.5 per cent), motor vehicles (3.1 per cent) and retail trade (2.6 per cent),” he said.

He added that the seasonally adjusted volume index declined 2.2 per cent m-o-m. – Bernama