Record fall in wholesale sales

Seasonally adjusted total wholesale trade sales fell a record 5.9 percent ($1.3 billion) for the March 2009quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today.

This is the largest quarterly fall in total sales since the currentseries began in 1995, and is more than double the previous largest fall of 2.5 percent ($550 million) in theDecember 2008 quarter.

The bulk of the wholesaling industries had declining sales, led by the 16.9 percent ($351 million) record fallin petroleum product wholesaling. This was largely due to lower world prices for crude oil during the March2009 quarter.

The next largest falls were in unprocessed primary product wholesaling, down 11.4 percent($214 million), metal and mineral wholesaling, down 25.3 percent ($208 million), and primary product foodwholesaling, down 10.4 percent ($196 million).

Four industries recorded sales rises in the March 2009quarter, led by food and grocery products wholesaling, up 3.3 percent ($133 million).The total wholesale trade sales trend has been in decline since the June 2008 quarter, falling 8.4 percentsince then.

For the second time since the series began, the sales trend has fallen for three consecutivequarters; the previous period was in 1996 when the trend fell 1.1 percent.Seasonally adjusted wholesale stocks for the March 2009 quarter fell 1.4 percent ($163 million), following a3.7 percent fall in the December 2008 quarter.

Dallas Welch (Mrs)Acting Government Statistician

5 June 2009

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See also the Hot Off The Press information release Wholesale Trade Survey: March 2009 quarter