Singapore's Q2 Wholesale Trade up 1.9%

Source : The Business Times, 21 August 2007

SINGAPORE - Singapore's domestic wholesale trade rose 1.9 per cent in the second quarter from a year ago, slower than a 4.3 per cent rise in the first quarter, as lower electronics sales eclipsed higher sales of building materials and food, data showed on Tuesday.

Related link: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/news/news/wti2q2007.pdf
The Department of Statistics' press release

The year-on-year expansion in domestic wholesale trade - a barometer of consumer confidence in Singapore - followed a contraction in the fourth quarter of last year, the first in three years.

Excluding petroleum, domestic sales rose by 6.5 per cent compared with a year ago, according to data from the Department of Statistics. Petroleum and its related products account for nearly a third of the total trade index.

Petroleum and petroleum products fell 3.8 per cent in the second quarter from the previous year, while chemicals rose 2.7 per cent. Wholesale trade of ship chandlers and bunkering was down 1.4 per cent.

Domestic sales of electronic components, which make up about 14 per cent of the index, fell 17.7 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year ago.

On a quarterly basis, the index rose 8.6 per cent in the second quarter, following a 7.5 per cent fall recorded in the first three months of 2007.

The indices record domestic sales transactions of some 810 wholesale establishments and provide an indication of retail health and future trends in consumer prices in the economy. -- REUTERS