Malaysia’s Wholesale & Retail Trade which recorded a monthly sales value of RM138.0 billion, grew 6.6 per cent year-on-year in May 2023.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in its release entitled ‘Performance Of Wholesale & Retail Trade, May 2023’ today (July 12) said the increase of 6.6 per cent was attributed to Motor Vehicles sub-sector, which surged 22.0 per cent or RM3.1 billion to register RM17.0 billion.
Retail Trade also expanded by registering 5.0 per cent or RM2.8 billion to RM58.8 billion, followed by Wholesale Trade with an increase of 4.4 per cent or RM2.6 billion to settle at RM62.2 billion.
For month-on-month comparison, sales value of Wholesale & Retail Trade rebounded 1.5 per cent, contributed by Motor Vehicles and Wholesale Trade sub-sectors of 16.2 per cent and 2.1 per cent, respectively.
Looking at the performance across sub-sectors, the double-digit growth of 22.0 per cent in Motor Vehicles sub-sector this month was pushed up by Sales of Motor Vehicles which jumped 29.8 per cent or RM2.1 billion to RM8.9 billion.
This was followed by Sales of Motor Vehicles Parts & Accessories and Maintenance & Repair of Motor Vehicles which climbed 17.7 per cent and 20.4 per cent, respectively.
However, Sales, Maintenance & Repair of Motorcycles decreased -5.0 per cent. For monthly comparison, this sub-sector bounced back 16.2 per cent, contributed by all groups, mainly Sales of Motor Vehicles with 30.8 per cent.
Commenting further on Retail Trade sub-sector, the growth of 5.0 per cent in May 2023 was supported by Retail Sales in Non-specialised Stores which grew 8.4 per cent or RM1.7 billion to RM22.5 billion.
Other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth namely Retail Sales in Specialised Stores 6.0 per cent, Retail Sales of Food, Beverages & Tobacco 10.0 per cent, Retail Sales of Automotive Fuel 6.0 per cent, Retail Sales Not in Stores, Stalls or Market 2.5 per cent, and Retail Sales in Stalls & Market 6.0 per cent.
On the other hand, for month-on-month comparison, sales of this sub-sector went down -2.7 per cent with most of the groups registered a negative growth.
DOSM also informed that the increase of 4.4 per cent in Wholesale Trade was attributed to Wholesale of Food, Beverages & Tobacco which rose RM1.1 billion or 9.6 per cent to RM12.3 billion.
This was followed by Wholesale of Household Goods 7.9 per cent, Wholesale of Agricultural Raw Materials & Live Animals 8.6 per cent, Wholesale of Machinery, Equipment & Supplies 5.8 per cent, Non-specialised Wholesale Trade 11.6 per cent, and Wholesale on a Fee or Contract Basis 7.3 per cent.
For monthly comparison, Wholesale Trade rose 2.1 per cent, mainly attributable to Wholesale of Agricultural Raw Materials & Live Animals and Other Specialised Wholesale which increased 7.5 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.
For index of retail sale over the internet, the index recorded -0.8 per cent growth year-on-year in May 2023 as compared to 4.1 per cent in April 2023.
For seasonally adjusted value, the index contracted -5.5 per cent as against the previous month. In terms of volume index, Wholesale & Retail Trade for May 2023 registered a year-on-year growth of 4.6 per cent.
DOSM also added that the expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors namely Motor Vehicles 17.8 per cent, Wholesale Trade 5.3 per cent, and Retail Trade 2.4 per cent. For seasonally adjusted volume index, it declined -4.1 per cent month-on-month.
