Singapore's domestic wholesale trade down 22.6% in Q1

SINGAPORE'S domestic wholesale trade contracted 22.6 per cent year on year in the first quarter of 2016, said the Department of Statistics (DOS) on Friday.

Excluding petroleum, however, the drop was less severe, with an 11.4 per cent decline.

"The decline in nominal domestic wholesale trade was due partly to lower prices of petroleum and chemical products. After adjusting for price changes, overall domestic wholesale trade registered a smaller year-on-year decrease of 1.7 per cent," said DOS.

The worst-performing industries were ship chandlers & bunkering, petroleum & petroleum products, and general wholesale trade. These registered sharp double-digit declines of 39.9 per cent, 38.2 per cent and 34.3 per cent respectively.

Although Q1's decline in domestic wholesale trade was broad-based, three industries still posted growth - household equipment & furniture (up 12.5 per cent), transport equipment (up 8 per cent) and food, beverages & tobacco (up 1.4 per cent).