Wholesale trade sales rise again

7 December 2010

Total wholesale trade sales, after adjusting for seasonal effects, increased 3.1 percent ($671 million) in the September 2010 quarter, Statistics New Zealand said today. This is the fourth consecutive quarterly sales increase and the largest increase since the December 2007 quarter.

"The overall picture was positive, as sales rose in 11 of the 16 wholesale industries,” business statistics manager Kathy Connolly said. The largest rises were in: • food and grocery products wholesaling, up 5.0 percent ($216 million), more than reversing a 1.6 percent fall in the June 2010 quarter • farm, construction, professional, and business equipment wholesaling, up 9.3 percent ($162 million) • petroleum product wholesaling, up 7.3 percent ($134 million).

In the five industries where sales were down in the September 2010 quarter, the decreases were generally smaller than the increases, the biggest being motor vehicle wholesaling, down 2.3 percent ($35 million).

The trend in total wholesale trade sales has risen 9.8 percent since the June 2009 quarter. The level of the trend is just 1.4 percent below its peak in June 2008. In actual dollars (not seasonally adjusted), the value of stocks rose to $10.5 billion at the end of September 2010, compared with $10.3 billion at the end of September 2009, a 2.7 percent increase.

This is the first quarter-on-quarter annual increase since March 2009 compared with March 2008.

Vince Galvin - Acting Government Statistician

ENDS

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