KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade recorded a sales value of RM142.7 billion, a 6.5 per cent increase year-on-year (y-o-y) in September 2023, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

It said sales value increased marginally by 0.1 per cent on a month-on-month comparison.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase of 6.5 per cent y-o-y for wholesale and retail trade in September 2023 was attributed to the wholesale trade sub-sector, which rose 6.9 per cent or RM4.1 billion to RM64.2 billion.

"Retail trade also expanded by registering 5.9 per cent or RM3.4 billion to RM61.1 billion, followed by motor vehicles with an increase of 7.0 per cent or RM1.1 billion to settle at RM17.5 billion,” he said in a statement today.

Mohd Uzir said September’s marginal increase of 0.1 per cent from the previous month was attributed to retail trade, which expanded 0.9 per cent or RM0.5 billion, followed by wholesale trade with 0.5 per cent or RM0.3 billion.

"On the other hand, motor vehicles went down 3.6 per cent,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said that looking at the performance across the sub-sectors, the 6.9 per cent y-o-y growth in the wholesale trade was contributed by the other specialised wholesale sub-sector, which rose RM2.0 billion or 8.6 per cent to RM25.1 billion.

He said the retail trade sub-sector’s increase of 5.9 per cent y-o-y in September was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which grew 8.9 per cent or RM1.9 billion to RM23.2 billion.

"The y-o-y growth of 7.0 per cent for the motor vehicles sub-sector in September was fuelled by sales of motor vehicles parts and accessories, which accelerated 17.2 per cent or RM0.7 billion to record RM4.6 billion. This was followed by maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (18.6 per cent) and sales of motor vehicles (3.8 per cent).

"For monthly comparison, this sub-sector contracted 3.6 per cent, pulled down by sales of motor vehicles (-4.9 per cent), sales, maintenance and repair of motorcycles (-8.6 per cent), and sales of motor vehicles parts and accessories (-1.2 per cent),” he said.

Mohd Uzir said the index of retail sales over the internet recorded 2.0 per cent growth y-o-y in September 2023 as compared to 1.0 per cent in August 2023.

"For seasonally adjusted value, the index went up 0.3 per cent as against the previous month,” he added. — Bernama