Retail and wholesale trade contracted 1.5% and 0.9% respectively, while motor vehicles grew 2.2% YoY during the month

By NUR HAZIQAH A MALEK / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

MALAYSIA’S wholesale and retail trade sales value fell slightly by 0.8% year-on-year (YoY) to RM110.5 billion in October, attributed to a 1.5% YoY contraction in retail trade.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin (picture) said retail trade for the month stood at RM44.2 million, while wholesale trade also declined 0.9% YoY to RM53.4 billion. Motor vehicles trade, however, grew 2.2% YoY during the month to RM12.9 billion, he said in a statement yesterday.

On a month-on-month basis, sales value fell 0.5% in October partly due to the resurgence of Covid-19 cases which led to the re-imposition of the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in selected areas and the implementation of the Conditional MCO in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya.

Mohd Uzir added that subsector performance also noted decreases in retail sale in specialised stores by 7.4%, retail sale of household goods (4%), cultural and recreation goods (4.6%) and information and communication equipment (1.9%).

“However, sales of essential goods depicted a positive growth, namely in non-specialised stores which registered a 4.4% YoY growth to RM15.9 billion. This was followed by food, beverage and tobacco retail sales which rose 6.1% to RM2.7 billion,” he said.

Similarly, retail trade not in stores, stalls or markets also expanded by 8.3% YoY to RM400 million, tailed by retail sale via stalls and markets, which increased by 7% to RM100 million.

Meanwhile, the 0.9% decline in wholesale trade was attributed to other specialised wholesale and wholesale on a fee or contract basis, both of which fell by 6.1% and 3.6% respectively.

“However, food, beverage and tobacco wholesale grew 3.8% to RM10.1 billion, followed by household goods wholesale, which increased 3.1% to RM11 billion. Similarly, machinery, equipment and supplies wholesale also expanded 1.7% to generate sales of RM4.6 billion,” Mohd Uzir said.

Sales for motor vehicles led the growth with a 6.4% YoY increase to reach RM7.2 billion, followed by the sale, maintenance and repair of motorcycles, which registered a sales value of RM1.1 billion.

“However, maintenance and repair of motor vehicles contracted 4.3% YoY to record RM1.5 billion worth of sales. Motor parts and accessories sales decreased by 4.5% YoY to RM3.1 billion,” he said.

In terms of volume index, wholesale and retail trade registered a decrease of 1.4% YoY due to a fall in retail trade, which declined by 2.8%, and wholesale trade, which contracted by 0.8%. In comparison, motor vehicles recorded a growth of 1.7%.

Mohd Uzir added that the online retail sales index, which portrays e-commerce activity, surged 26.3% YoY. “For the seasonally adjusted retail sales index, it went down 5.4% against the previous month,” he said.