Small increase for wholesale trade

Seasonally adjusted total wholesale trade sales increased 0.2 percent ($51 million) for the March 2008 quarter compared with the December 2007 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.

This follows an increase of 3.2 percent ($675 million) in the December 2007 quarter.

There were relatively small value changes in most of the 16 wholesaling industries, with approximately two-thirds of them recording sales increases or decreases of less than $20 million.

The only notable increase this quarter was the rise in unprocessed primary products wholesaling, up 7.9 percent ($124 million). The largest decreases were in food and grocery wholesaling, down 3.5 percent ($142 million), and motor vehicle wholesaling, down 6.0 percent ($107 million).

Seasonally adjusted wholesale stocks for the March 2008 quarter increased 6.0 percent, following a 3.6 percent rise in December 2007 quarter. This is the largest increase in stocks since the series began in March 1995 and is mainly influenced by increases in petroleum product and metal and mineral wholesaling industries.

The total wholesale trade sales trend has risen 16.2 percent since a small fall in the December 2005 quarter.