KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 9): Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade recorded a sales value of RM142.7 billion, an increase of 6.5% year-on-year (y-o-y), in September 2023, according to a Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) report.
For quarterly performance, sales of wholesale and retail trade registered RM424.9 billion in the third quarter, which grew 6.8% y-o-y.
According to the report on Thursday, Malaysia's chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin noted that the 6.5% y-o-y growth in the wholesale and retail trade sector in September 2023 was largely driven by the wholesale trade sub-sector, which rose by 6.9%, or RM4.1 billion, to reach RM64.2 billion.
“Retail trade also expanded by registering [an increase of] 5.9%, or RM3.4 billion, to RM61.1 billion, followed by motor vehicles, with an increase of 7.0%, or RM1.1 billion, to settle at RM17.5 billion,” he said.
Meanwhile, he noted that the marginal increase of 0.1% from the preceding month (August 2023) was attributed to retail trade, which expanded 0.9% or RM0.5 billion, followed by wholesale trade (0.5% or RM0.3 billion). However, motor vehicles went down 3.6%.
“Elaborating further on quarterly performance, the y-o-y increase of 6.8% in the third quarter of this year for wholesale and retail trade was underpinned by the wholesale trade sub-sector, which expanded RM11.3 billion, or 6.3 %, to RM191.1 billion.
“This was followed by retail trade, which rose 5.9%, or RM10.1 billion, to reach RM181.3 billion," he said.
The motor vehicles sub-sector registered a double-digit growth of 11.8% y-o-y, or RM5.6 billion, to RM52.5 billion in this quarter. Quarter-on-quarter, this sector rose 3.0%, he added.
For the index of retail sales over the internet, the index recorded a 2.0% y-o-y growth in September 2023, as compared to 1.0% in August 2023. For seasonally adjusted value, the index went up 0.3% as against the previous month.