KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 ― Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade recorded a sales value of RM142.6 billion, up 6.2 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in November 2023, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today that the increase was driven by the wholesale trade sub-sector, which rose 6.2 per cent or RM3.7 billion to RM63.2 billion.

"Retail trade also expanded 4.4 per cent or RM2.6 billion to RM61.3 billion, followed by motor vehicles with a double-digit growth of 12.7 per cent or RM2.0 billion to settle at RM18.1 billion,” he said.

He said that for monthly comparison, the marginal increase of 0.2 per cent from the previous month was contributed by retail trade, which went up 1.2 per cent.

"However, motor vehicles and wholesale trade sub-sectors recorded negative growth of 1.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent, respectively,” he said.

Looking at the performance across sub-sectors, Mohd Uzir said the growth of 6.2 per cent y-o-y in wholesale trade was contributed by other specialised wholesale, which grew RM2.1 billion or 9.3 per cent to RM24.2 billion.

"This was followed by wholesale of household goods (5.2 per cent), wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals (9.5 per cent), wholesale of food, beverages and tobacco (2.3 per cent), wholesale of machinery, equipment and supplies (2.6 per cent), non-specialised wholesale trade (3.3 per cent), and wholesale on a fee or contract basis (4.1 per cent).

"Conversely, for monthly comparison, wholesale trade inched down 0.2 per cent, mainly due to other specialised wholesale (-1.1 per cent), wholesale of household goods (-1.5 per cent), and wholesale of agricultural raw materials and live animals (-1.1 per cent),” he said.

For the retail trade sub-sector, the increase of 4.4 per cent y-o-y in the month was supported by retail sales in non-specialised stores, which grew 6.5 per cent or RM1.4 billion to RM23.4 billion.

Mohd Uzir further said the y-o-y growth of 12.7 per cent for the motor vehicles sub-sector in November 2023 was fueled by sales of motor vehicles, which surged 13.5 per cent or RM1.2 billion to record RM10.0 billion, followed by motor vehicles parts and accessories sales (14.5 per cent) and maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (16.3 per cent).

In contrast, for monthly comparison, this sub-sector eased by 1.6 per cent due to sales of motor vehicles (-2.8 per cent) and sales, maintenance and repair of motorcycles (-3.2 per cent).

"The index of retail sales over the internet went down 1.0 per cent y-o-y in November 2023 compared with -0.3 per cent a month before.

"For seasonally adjusted value, the index contracted 4.4 per cent as against the previous month,” he added. ― Bernama