PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade recorded sales value of RM141.1 billion in February
2024, 5.5% higher year-on-year.
However, on a monthly comparison, the sales value recorded negative growth for two consecutive months with -0.9%, compared to January.
Chief Statistician Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said, “The increase of 5.5% year-on-year for wholesale and retail trade in February 2024 was driven by retail trade sub-sector, which rose 5.8% or RM3.4 billion to register RM61.5 billion. Wholesale trade expanded by 5.2% or RM3.1 billion to RM62.2 billion, followed by motor vehicles with a growth of 5.4% or RM0.9 billion to settle at RM17.4 billion.”
Monthly, the negative growth from the previous month was contributed by wholesale trade which slipped 2.3%, followed by motor vehicles sub-sector which contracted 1.4%. In contrast, retail trade sub-sector registered a positive growth of 0.7% in February.
Looking at the performance across sub-sectors, Mohd Uzir said the year-on-year growth of 5.8% for retail trade was supported by sales in non-specialised stores which grew 6.7% or RM1.5 billion to RM23.6 billion. Other groups in this sub-sector also recorded positive growth namely retail sales in specialised stores (9.5%), food, beverages & tobacco (8.0%), household goods (4%), automotive fuel (3.4%), cultural and recreation goods (5.4%), those not in stores, stalls or markets (1%), and those via stalls and markets (3.3%).
For month-on-month comparison, sales of this sub-sector edged up 0.7%, spearheaded by retail sales in non-specialised stores (1.7%), specialised stores (1.1%), and automotive fuel (0.7%).
Mohd Uzir said the year-on-year growth of 5.4% for the motor vehicles sub-sector was fuelled by sales of motor vehicle parts and accessories which surged 13.7% or RM0.6 billion to RM4.9 billion.
This was followed by maintenance and repair of motor vehicles (14.1%) and sales of motor vehicles (0.2%). Conversely, for monthly comparison, this sub-sector contracted 1.4% due to sales of motor vehicles which dived 4.5%, he added.