Govt data show sharp drop in wholesale and retail sales for July 2021 compared to last year; car sales worst hit

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — Despite registering RM92.7 billion in July 2021, the overall sales in Malaysia’s wholesale and retail sector contracted by -14.7 per cent compared to the same period last year.

The latest data released by the Department of Statistics today showed that the negative growth was due to sluggish performance across the sector.

Motor vehicles remained the worst performer, registering -85.4 per cent growth. This was followed by -8.1 per cent in retail trade and -1.1 per cent in wholesale trade.

In terms of volume index, wholesale and retail trade registered a negative growth of -16.7 per cent year-on-year to record 106.5 points.

However, the seasonally adjusted volume index went up by 1 per cent for month-on-month in July 2021.

Wholesale trade recorded RM49.5 billion in sales for July 2021. But when compared to the same period  last year, growth was also negative at -1.1 per cent.

Sales in the wholesale trade subsector also registered an overall decrease by 2.4 per cent, due to negative growth across the board.

The sharpest drops, in descending order are: Wholesale on a Fee or Contract  Basis (-22.1 per cent)  Wholesale of Household Goods (-12.1 per cent), Wholesale of Machinery, Equipment and Supplies (-10.4 per cent) and Non-specialised Wholesale Trade  (-1.2 per cent).

Volume indices for the subsector also registered negative growth and contracted by -4.0 per cent compared to the same period last year.

However, seasonally adjusted volume index slightly increased by 0.1 per cent for month-on-month.

Retail trade also registered a negative growth of -8.1 per cent as compared to July 2020.

Among the contributors to the decline were Retail Sale of Automotive Fuel in Specialised Stores (-14.1 per cent), Retail Sale of Other Goods in Specialised Stores (-11.1 per cent) and Retail Sale in Non-specialised Stores (-10.8 per cent).

In contrast, sales of this sub-sector went up 1.4 per cent as compared to June 2021.

For Motor Vehicles, the poor performance for the subsector is largely attributed to the negative growth of Maintenance and Repair of  Motor  Vehicles by -88.7 per cent, Sale of Motor Vehicles Parts and Accessories (-87.4 per cent) and Sale, Maintenance and Repair of Motorcycles  (-86.9 per cent.

Despite the negative growth, the sub-sector sales had increased to 118.6 per cent compared to the same period last year.