S'pore Q4 domestic wholesale trade dips

Singapore

SINGAPORE'S domestic wholesale trade contracted 12.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014 compared to a year earlier, data released by the Department of Statistics on Monday showed. The drop was largely due to steep double-digit fall in the general wholesale trade (32.3 per cent), ship chandlers and bunkering (31.7 per cent), and petroleum and petroleum products (18.8 per cent) industries.

Telecommunications and computers saw the strongest growth of 17.8 per cent, followed by electronic components which grew by 12.2 per cent. Excluding petroleum, domestic wholesale trade fell 7 per cent compared to the corresponding period in 2013. If adjusted for price changes, overall domestic wholesale trade rose 5.7 per cent.