Wholesale Trade Survey: June 2011 quarter

Total wholesale trade sales rose again in the June 2011 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. After adjusting for seasonal effects, sales rose for the seventh consecutive quarter – up 2.2 percent ($444 million).

The bulk of the increase came from the 'other goods wholesaling' industry, which rose 9.8 percent ($316 million).

“Other goods wholesaling is a bit of a mixed bag. It includes things like textiles, footwear, pharmaceuticals, and furniture, but no single one of these subgroups drove the overall increase,” industry and labour statistics acting manager Tehseen Islam said.

Motor vehicle and motor-vehicle parts wholesaling sales had the second-biggest increase, up 4.5 percent ($65 million). Basic materials wholesaling had the only sales' fall in the June 2011 quarter, down 0.7 percent ($34 million).

The trend in wholesale trade sales has been rising steadily since the September 2009 quarter, and is up 16.8 percent since then.

The seasonally adjusted value of total wholesale trade stocks was $8.7 billion at the end of June 2011, down 0.5 percent ($48 million).

Quarterly wholesale trade statistics are not produced at regional levels. While a small number of surveyed businesses have been adversely affected by the ongoing earthquakes, we are not able to estimate the overall effect on Canterbury or Christchurch.