• Distributive trade grew by 6.5% yoy in February

• Sales value surpassed RM100bn for ninth consecutive month

• Slower growth in all sub-sectors

• Global retail sales continue to slumber

• Retail sector to see lower growth

Growth in distributive trade eased to 6.5% yoy in February, as the monthly sales value declined to RM103.5bn from RM108.9bn. Retail sales, which contributed 40.3% to total distributive trade, increased by 8.5% yoy in February to RM42.5bn, slowing from a 10.6% rise in the prior month. It was the smallest gain in retail trade since April last year. The expansion was propelled by retail sale of other goods in specialised stores (10.2%), retail sale in non-specialised stores (9.4%) and retail sale of food, beverages & tobacco in specialised stores (8.9%). Likewise, wholesale trade increased at a moderating pace of 5.8% to reach RM50.2bn. The increase was supported by other specialised wholesale, wholesale of food, beverages & tobacco and wholesale of household goods which grew 6.9%, 6.1% and 6.0% respectively. Meanwhile, sales of motor vehicles went up 2.4%, easing from a 4.8% rise in the preceding month.

On monthly basis, the distributive trade decreased further by 0.5% from 0.3% in January. The slower growth was mainly due to sharp decline in motor vehicles (Feb: -11.6%; Jan: +2.6%; Dec: -3.2%). Monthly sales of retail trade dropped further (Feb: -3.0%; Jan: -1.8%; Dec: +4.2%) while sales value of wholesale trade turned into contraction (Feb: -5.1%; Jan: +0.2%; Dec: +3.3%).

Source: BIMB Securities Research - 12 Apr 2019