Domestic wholesale trade grew 13.4% in Q2 2011

And foreign wholesale trade also expanded by 14.7% year-on-year.

According to the Wholesale Trade Index of the Department of Statistics, domestic wholesale trade (seasonally adjusted) increased 2.1% in second quarter 2011 compared to the previous quarter. Excluding petroleum, overall domestic sales declined 2.0%. After removing the price effect, domestic wholesale trade remained at a similar level as first quarter 2011.

Compared to the same period a year ago, domestic wholesale trade in second quarter 2011 grew 13.4%. Excluding petroleum, overall domestic wholesale trade rose 2.5%. After adjusting for price changes, domestic wholesale trade registered a marginal decline of 0.2% over second quarter 2010.

Foreign Wholesale Trade
• Compared to the previous quarter, foreign wholesale trade (seasonally adjusted) rose 1.1% in second quarter 2011. Excluding petroleum, the increase in foreign wholesale trade was 1.6%. After removing the price effect, foreign wholesale trade recorded a marginal increase of 0.7%.
• On a year-on-year basis, foreign wholesale trade expanded by 14.7%. Excluding petroleum, foreign wholesale trade rose 11.5%. After adjusting for price changes, foreign wholesale trade grew by a smaller 2.3%.

Domestic Wholesale Trade by Sector
Quarter-on-Quarter Change
(Seasonally Adjusted)
After seasonal adjustment, ship chandlers & bunkering, chemicals & chemical products and petroleum & petroleum products sectors recorded growth of between 2.2% and 7.4% in second quarter 2011, partly due to higher prices compared to the previous quarter. After adjusting for price changes, the increases in domestic wholesale trade of the three sectors were smaller, ranging from 0.6% to 2.8%.

Similarly, timber, paints & construction materials sector registered an increase of 6.0% over first quarter 2011.

In contrast, domestic sales of electronic components sector declined 13.7% over the same period. In addition, industrial & construction machinery, food, beverages & tobacco and transport equipment sectors registered decreases of between 2.4% and 3.4%.

Year-on-Year Change
On a year-on-year basis, petroleum & petroleum products sector experienced strong growth of 28.7% in domestic sales. After removing the price effect, the domestic wholesale trade of petroleum & petroleum products sector remained at a similar level compared to second quarter 2010.

Other sectors that posted relatively large increases in domestic sales included chemicals & chemical products (17.3%), ship chandlers & bunkering (12.9%) and general wholesale trade (11.7%). After excluding price changes, the domestic sales of general wholesale trade sector grew by a smaller 3.7% while those of ship chandlers & bunkering and chemicals & chemical products sectors declined 12.4% and 1.1% respectively.

Similarly, industrial & construction machinery, food, beverages & tobacco and timber, paints & construction materials sectors reported increases of between 6.7% and 9.9%. On the other hand, electronic components sector reported a year-on-year decline of 19.5% in domestic sales. Other sectors that also registered negative growth included transport
equipment (-6.9%), telecommunications & computers (-1.9%) and household equipment & furniture (-1.2%).

Foreign Wholesale Trade by Sector
Quarter-on-Quarter Change
(Seasonally Adjusted)

After seasonal adjustment, general wholesale trade sector registered an increase of 11.8% in foreign wholesale trade in second quarter 2011 compared to the previous quarter.

Other sectors which reported double-digit growth in foreign sales included petroleum & petroleum products (10.6%) and ship chandlers & bunkering (10.0%). After adjusting for price changes, the foreign wholesale trade of petroleum & petroleum products and ship chandlers & bunkering sectors registered smaller growth of 1.9% and 1.3% respectively.

Conversely, timber, paints & construction materials and transport equipment sectors experienced quarter-on-quarter decreases of 12.7% and 12.5% in foreign wholesale trade respectively. Other sectors that also recorded lower foreign sales included electronic components (-5.3%) and industrial & construction machinery (-3.1%).

Year-on-Year Change
Compared to second quarter 2010, general wholesale trade sector reported a 27.7% increase in foreign sales. Positive growth in foreign sales were also registered by ship chandlers & bunkering (23.9%), chemicals & chemical products (18.8%) and petroleum & petroleum products (18.3%) sectors, due to higher prices compared to a year ago. After removing the price effect, the foreign sales of chemicals & chemical products sector grew marginally by 0.7% while those of ship chandlers & bunkering and petroleum & petroleum products sectors declined 4.9% and 8.2% respectively.

Similarly, food, beverages & tobacco, telecommunications & computers and industrial & construction machinery and timber, paints & construction materials sectors reported increases of between 5.4% and 9.4%.

However, foreign sales of transport equipment and electronic components declined 15.7% and 4.8% respectively compared to the same quarter last year.