PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade registered sales value of RM144.9 billion in April 2024, higher by 6.6% year-on-year, according to Department of Statistics Malaysia.
In a statement today, Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin
said, “The increase of 6.6% year-on-year for wholesale and retail trade in April 2024 was driven by retail trade sub-sector, which rose 5.5% or RM3.3 billion to register RM63.8 billion. Wholesale trade also grew by registering 4.8% or RM2.9 billion to RM63.8 billion, followed by motor vehicles with an increase of 18.1% or RM2.6 billion to settle at RM17.3 billion.”
For monthly comparison, wholesale and retail trade fell 0.6% from the previous month, due to the decrease recorded in motor vehicles and wholesale trade which declined 8.2% and 0.4%, respectively.
Looking at the performance across sub-sectors, Mohd Uzir said, “The growth of 5.5% year-on-year in retail trade was contributed by retail sales in non-specialised stores which grew 5.2% or RM1.2 billion to RM24.7 billion.”
Other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth namely retail sales in specialised stores (8.4%), household goods (4.7%), automotive fuel (4.9%), food, beverages & tobacco (7.2%), cultural & recreation goods (5%), retail sales not in stores, stalls or markets (6.4%), information & communication equipment (0.4%), and retail sales in stalls & markets (4%).
For month-on-month comparison, sales of this sub-sector rose 1.5%, supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores (1.8%), in specialised stores (1.6%), and of automotive fuel (2.9%).
In the wholesale trade sub-sector, the increase of 4.8% year-on-year in April was supported by other specialised wholesale which rose RM1 billion or 4.2% to RM23.9 billion. This was followed by food, beverages & tobacco (6.6%), household goods (4.4%), agricultural raw materials & live animals (6.7%), machinery, equipment & supplies (2.6%), non-specialised wholesale trade (4.7%), and wholesale on a fee or contract basis (3.2%).
Conversely, for monthly comparison, wholesale trade went down 0.4%, due to negative growth in other specialised wholesale (-0.6%), wholesale of food, beverages & tobacco (-1%), and wholesale of household goods (-0.9%).
Mohd Uzir said, “The year-on-year growth of 18.1% for motor vehicles sub-sector in April was fuelled by sales of motor vehicles which surged 26.5% or RM1.8 billion to record RM8.6 billion. This was followed by sales of motor vehicle parts & accessories (11.8%) and maintenance & repair of motor vehicles (13.1%).
However, for monthly comparison, this sub-sector contracted 8.2%, dragged down by sales of motor vehicles (-13.4%) and sales, maintenance & repair of motorcycles (-21.2%).
The index of retail sales over the internet expanded 4.3% year-on-year in April 2024 compared to 5.6% in March 2024. Seasonally adjusted, the index increased 2.1% as against the previous month.
In terms of volume index, wholesale & retail trade for April 2024 registered a year-on-year growth of 4.5%. The expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors namely motor vehicles (17.1%), retail trade (3.5%), and wholesale trade (2.7%). The seasonally adjusted volume index, meanwhile, rebounded 5.5% month-on-month.
