Real wholesale trade sales up 3.4% y/y in Dec

Wholesale trade sales at constant (2000) prices increased by 3.4% year on year (y/y) in December‚ after a 9.4% y/y increase in November‚ Statistics SA data showed on Thursday, 14 February 2013.

Measured in real terms‚ seasonally adjusted wholesale trade sales decreased by 3.5% in December compared with November‚ following month-on-month rises of 1.0% in November and 7.5% in October.

Seasonally adjusted wholesale trade sales rose by 3.6% in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the previous quarter.

Measured in nominal terms (current prices)‚ wholesale trade sales increased by 8.0% in December last year compared with December 2011.

The major contributors to this increase were dealers in food‚ beverages and tobacco (20.5% and contributing 3.6 percentage points); agricultural raw materials and livestock (34.5% and contributing 2.0 percentage points); and solid‚ liquid and gaseous fuels and related products (8.3% and contributing 1.9 percentage points).

Wholesale trade sales increased by 12.3% in the fourth quarter of last year compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.

The major contributors to this increase were dealers in solid‚ liquid and gaseous fuels and related products (15.6% and contributing 3.5 percentage points); food‚ beverages and tobacco (18.2% and contributing 2.8 percentage points); agricultural raw materials and livestock (26.9% and contributing 1.5 percentage points); and other goods (14.5% and contributing 1.5 percentage points).