Malaysia’s Wholesale & Retail Trade recorded sales value of RM142.4 billion, increased 5.4 per cent year-on-year in January 2024.
However, for monthly comparison, sales value fell -1.1 per cent as compared to December 2023.
This is reported by Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) in today’s release entitled Performance Of Wholesale & Retail Trade, January 2024. The report presents statistics on sales value and volume index of Wholesale & Retail Trade by sub-sector as well as index of retail sales over the internet.
In a statement today, Chief Statistician Malaysia Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, “The increase of 5.4 per cent year-on-year for Wholesale & Retail Trade in January 2024 was driven by Wholesale Trade sub-sector, which rose 5.5 per cent or RM3.3 billion to register RM63.7 billion.
“Motor Vehicles also expanded by registering 16.0 per cent or RM2.4 billion to RM17.6 billion, followed by Retail Trade with a growth of 2.6 per cent or RM1.5 billion to settle at RM61.1 billion.”
For monthly comparison, the negative growth of -1.1 per cent from the previous month was contributed by Retail Trade which slipped -2.1 per cent, followed by Motor Vehicles sub-sector which contracted -5.1 per cent. In contrast, Wholesale Trade sub-sector registered a growth of 1.2 per cent in this month.
Looking at the performance across sub-sectors, the Chief Statistician said, “The growth of 5.5 per cent year-on-year in this month was supported by Other Specialised Wholesale which rose RM1.8 billion or 8.3 per cent to RM24.0 billion.
This was followed by Wholesale of Food, Beverages & Tobacco (4.6%), Wholesale of Household Goods (2.9%), Wholesale of Agricultural Raw Materials & Live Animals (4.2%), Wholesale of Machinery, Equipment & Supplies (4.5%), Nonspecialised Wholesale Trade (4.3%), and Wholesale on a Fee or Contract Basis (2.1%).
For monthly comparison, Wholesale Trade rebounded 1.2 per cent, mainly contributed by Wholesale of Food, Beverages & Tobacco (6.7%), Wholesale of Household Goods (2.0%), Other Specialised Wholesale (0.6%), and Nonspecialised Wholesale Trade (0.6%).”
On the Motor Vehicles sub-sector, the increase of 16.0 per cent for Motor Vehicles sub-sector in January was fueled by Sales of Motor Vehicles which surged 20.9 per cent or RM1.6 billion to record RM9.3 billion.
This was followed by Sales of Motor Vehicles Parts & Accessories (11.9%), Maintenance & Repair of Motor Vehicles (12.4%), and Sales, Maintenance & Repair of Motorcycles (5.4%).
Conversely, for monthly comparison, this sub-sector shrank -5.1 per cent, due to Sales of Motor Vehicles which slumped -11.3 per cent.”
Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin added, “The year-on-year growth of 2.6 per cent for Retail Trade sub-sector in January was spurred by Retail Sales in Specialised Stores which grew 4.9 per cent or RM0.6 billion to RM12.9 billion.
“Other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth namely Retail Sales in Non-specialised Stores (2.2%), Retail Sales of Household Goods (3.3%), Retail Sales of Food, Beverages & Tobacco (6.2%), Retail Sales of Automotive Fuel (1.0%), Retail Sales of Cultural & Recreation Goods (1.1%), Retail Sales Not in Stores, Stalls or Markets (0.7%), and Retail Sales via Stalls & Markets (2.0%).
“On the other hand, for month-on-month comparison, sales of this sub-sector dwindled -2.1 per cent, pressured by Retail Sales in Non-specialised Stores (-2.5%), Retail Sales in Specialised Stores (-2.5%), and Retail Sales of Household Goods (-2.2%).”
For index of retail sale over the internet, the index slipped -1.6 per cent year-on-year in January 2024 as compared to -0.4 per cent in December 2023.
For seasonally adjusted value, the index rebounded 2.3 per cent as against the previous month. In terms of volume index, Wholesale & Retail Trade for December 2023 registered a year-on-year growth of 3.5 per cent.
The expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors namely Motor Vehicles (12.1%), Wholesale Trade (4.0%), and Retail Trade (1.4%). For seasonally adjusted volume index, it decreased -1.4 per cent month-on-month.
