Widespread increase in wholesale trade sales

Total wholesale trade sales, after adjusting for seasonal effects, rose 2.3 percent ($472 million) in the March 2010 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. This is the second quarterly increase following a period of decline that began in mid-2008.

“The March 2010 quarter’s increase was widespread,” business statistics manager Kathy Connolly said, “with higher sales recorded in 13 of the 16 wholesale industries.” The biggest increases were in:

motor vehicle wholesaling, up 6.0 percent ($86 million)
food and grocery products wholesaling, up 1.7 percent ($73 million)
machinery and equipment wholesaling nec, up 9.2 percent ($69 million).

Other increases were less than $60 million.

Of the three industries with lower sales this quarter the biggest fall was in household goods wholesaling, down 6.8 percent ($45 million).

Latest figures confirm that the wholesale trade sales trend has begun rising, up 4.2 percent since June 2009 after having fallen 10.2 percent between the September 2008 and June 2009 quarters.

The value of wholesale trade stocks also rose in the March 2010 quarter, up 1.9 percent ($191 million).The latest rise builds on a smaller increase in December 2009, following four quarters of decreases. In March 2010 the value of wholesale trade stocks was $10.3 billion; in September 2008, when stocks peaked, the value was $11.8 billion.