Singapore's Q4 wholesale trade up 22%

Singapore's domestic wholesale trade in the fourth quarter rose 22.2 per cent from a year earlier as strong sales of petroleum and petroleum products offset weak electronics sales, data showed on Thursday.

The expansion in domestic wholesale trade picked up sharply from a pace of 4.6 per cent in the third quarter and marked the fourth consecutive rise since the first quarter.

However, excluding petroleum, sales rose 4.8 per cent over a year earlier, data from the Department of Statistics showed.

Petroleum and its related products account for nearly a third of the total trade index.

Petroleum and petroleum products jumped 47.3 per cent from a year earlier, while chemicals rose 14.5 per cent.

Domestic sales of electronic components, which make up about 14 per cent of the index, fell 35.8 per cent compared with a year earlier. This was its fourth straight quarter of decline.

On a quarterly basis, the wholesale index rose 7.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, lower than the 12.2 per cent rise recorded in the third quarter.

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.