MALAYSIA’s wholesale and retail trade continued to record a sturdy growth of 15.2% to RM133.9 billion in October 2022, said the Statistics Department.

In a statement today, chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase in October was attributed to the retail trade sub-sector, which rose by RM12 billion or 26% to RM58.3 billion. 

“Wholesale trade and motor vehicles also grew 7.3% (RM4.1 billion) to RM59.9 billion and 11.2% (RM1.6 billion) to RM15.7 billion, respectively,” he said. 

For a month-on-month comparison, he said the sales value of wholesale and retail trade decreased by 0.1%, contributed by motor vehicles and wholesale trade, at 3.5% and 0.3%, respectively. 

On the performance across sub-sectors, he noted that the retail trade sub-sector’s growth of 26% in October 2022 was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which grew 25.7%, or RM4.4 billion, to RM21.6 billion. 

“On a month-on-month comparison, sales of this sub-sector went up 1.1%, mainly contributed by the increase in retail sales in non-specialised stores, retail sales in specialised stores, and retail sales of automotive fuels at 1.4%, 2.1%, and 1.1%, respectively,” he said. 

Commenting on the wholesale trade sub-sector, Uzir pointed out that the increase of 7.3% was mainly attributed to other specialised wholesale, which grew 3.1% to RM22.7 billion. 

However, he said for a month-on-month comparison, sales of this sub-sector decreased 0.3%, which was mainly contributed by other specialised wholesale, which contracted 1.8%.

He also said the 11.2% growth in the motor vehicles sub-sector in October was spearheaded by the sales of motor vehicle parts and accessories at 49.2%, or an increase of RM1.3 billion, to RM4.0 billion. 

“This was followed by maintenance and repair of motor vehicles, which rose 62.4%, or RM800 million, to RM2.1 billion, while for monthly comparison, sales of this sub-sector dropped 3.5%, caused by sales of motor vehicles, which fell 5.9%,” he said. 

He noted that the index of retail sale over the internet in October recorded a 17.3% growth year-on-year, and for the seasonally adjusted value index, it increased 2.6% as against the previous month. 

In terms of volume index, the chief statistician said wholesale and retail trade for October registered a year-on-year growth of 10.5%, contributed by retail trade and motor vehicles, which increased 22.3% and 3%, respectively. 

Similarly, wholesale trade also recorded a growth of 0.8%. 

“However, the seasonally adjusted volume index went down 2.3% month-on-month,” Uzir added. – Bernama, December 9, 2022.