Wholesale and retail sales up 5.4% year-on-year to RM142.4b in January

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade recorded sales value of RM142.4 billion in January 2024, a 5.4% year-on-year increase, although it fell 1.1% when compared with December 2023.

In a statement today, Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, “The increase of 5.4% year-on-year for wholesale & retail trade in January 2024 was driven by wholesale trade sub-sector, which rose 5.5% or RM3.3 billion to register RM63.7 billion. Motor vehicles expanded by 16% or RM2.4 billion to RM17.6 billion, followed by retail trade with growth of 2.6% or RM1.5 billion to RM61.1 billion.”

For monthly comparison, the negative growth from December was contributed by retail trade which slipped 2.1%, followed by motor vehicles sub-sector which contracted 5.1%. In contrast, wholesale trade sub-sector registered positive growth of 1.2%.

Looking at the performance across sub-sectors, Mohd Uzir remarked that the growth of 5.5% year-on-year for wholesale trade in January was supported by other specialised wholesale which rose RM1.8 billion or 8.3% to RM24 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%), non-specialised wholesale trade (4.3%), and wholesale on a fee or contract basis (2.1%),” he added.

For monthly comparison, wholesale trade rebounded 1.2%, mainly contributed by wholesale of food, beverages & tobacco (6.7%), household goods (2%), other specialised wholesale (0.6%), and non-specialised wholesale (0.6%).

As for the motor vehicles sub-sector, the increase of 16% year-on-year in January was fuelled by sales which surged 20.9% or RM1.6 billion to 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% due to sales of motor vehicles which slumped 11.3%.

Mohd Uzir said, “The year-on-year growth of 2.6% for retail trade sub-sector was spurred by retail sales in specialised stores which grew 4.9% 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%), 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%).”

Month-on-month, sales decreased 2.1%, 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%).

The index of retail sales over the internet slipped 1.6% year-on-year in January 2024 compared with -0.4% in December 2023. In contrast, for seasonally adjusted value, the index edged up 0.5% from the previous month.

In terms of volume index, wholesale & retail trade for January 2024 registered a year-on-year growth of 3.5%. The expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors, namely motor vehicles (12.1%), wholesale trade (4.%), and retail trade (1.4%). Seasonally adjusted, the volume index inched down 0.9% month-on-month.