Malaysia's wholesale and retail trade up 7.1% to RM147.9bil in May

Remain vibrant: Specialty malls are mainly located in the Klang Valley and buyers and traders from around the country come to these wholesale sites to buy in bulk in order to supply to retailers in other parts of the Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s wholesale and retail trade expanded 7.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to register a monthly sales value of RM147.9 billion in May 2024, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today that the increase was driven by the retail trade sub-sector, which rose 8.7 per cent or RM5.1 billion to register RM64.0 billion.

He said wholesale trade also grew by 4.7 per cent or RM2.9 billion to RM65.1 billion, followed by motor vehicles with an increase of 10.5 per cent or RM1.8 billion to settle at RM18.8 billion.

"For monthly comparison, wholesale and retail trade went up 2.0 per cent from the previous month, supported by motor vehicles and wholesale trade with 8.8 per cent and 2.0 per cent respectively," he added.

Mohd Uzir said the index of retail sale over the Internet expanded by 5.2 per cent y-o-y in May 2024 compared to 4.3 per cent in April 2024, while for seasonally adjusted value, the index slipped 4.7 per cent against the previous month.

In terms of volume index, Mohd Uzir noted that wholesale and retail trade for May 2024 registered a y-o-y growth of 5.7 per cent.

"The expansion was attributed to all sub-sectors namely motor vehicles (9.6 per cent), retail trade (6.8 per cent) and wholesale trade (3.4 per cent).

"Conversely, for the seasonally adjusted volume index, it went down 0.9 per cent month-on-month," he added. - Bernama