• Distributive trade was up by 10.7% yoy in August
• Sales value was still above RM100bn and reached all-time high value
• Retail trade and motor vehicle expanded by 14.8% yoy and 10.6% yoy respectively
• Private consumption supported by strong momentum in distributive trade

Distributive trade continued to register double-digit growth in August, growing by 10.7% yoy to RM107.9bn versus 10.3% recorded in July. The sales value in August remained above RM100bn following the last three months’ figure and reached an all-time high value. Both components of distributive trade; wholesale trade and retail trade also reached new record high of RM50.9bn and RM43.5bn respectively. Meanwhile, motor vehicles sales stood at RM13.5bn.

The stronger gain in August was driven by a stellar performance by all segments of distributive trade. Retail trade and motor vehicles have been posting double-digit growth since the last two months and rose by 14.8% yoy (Jul: 13.3%; Jun: 12.1%) and 10.6% yoy (Jul: 12.1%; Jun: 10.1%) respectively in August. Whereas, the wholesale trade which accounted for 47.2% of total sales value was up by 7.4% yoy in August from 7.2% logged in the previous month.

On monthly basis, the distributive trade expanded by 1.3% in August after a slight increase of 0.3% in July. Wholesale trade and retail trade increased by 3.6% and 0.1% respectively whilst motor vehicles dropped 2.8% mom.

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 15 Oct 2018