Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade sales reached RM173.0 billion in August 2026, up 10.5% year-on-year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
The growth was supported by all three major subsectors, led by wholesale trade, which increased 16.5%, followed by retail trade at 6.5% and motor vehicles at 2.5%.
On a month-on-month basis, overall wholesale and retail trade sales rose 1.5%.
In volume terms, the wholesale and retail trade index increased 3.6% year-on-year to 171.4 points.
The expansion was driven by a 4.0% increase in wholesale trade volume, while retail trade rose 3.8% and motor vehicles increased 1.5%.
However, on a monthly basis, the volume index slipped 0.5%, weighed by a 3.2% decline in motor vehicles, a 0.3% contraction in wholesale trade and a marginal 0.02% decrease in retail trade.
The August data showed that trade activity remained firm on a year-on-year basis, although monthly volume growth softened across all three subsectors.
