by Ernie B. Calucag
Singapore’s domestic wholesale trade rose 8.2 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2011, boosted by increased sales of petroleum and petroleum products, the Singapore Department of Statistics reported Tuesday.
Foreign wholesale trade, meanwhile, also posted significant growth at 13.8 per cent from a year ago.
Petroleum products accounted for nearly half of the weighting in the index, rising for both domestic and foreign trade by 12.7 per cent and 20.5 per cent on-year respectively.
The domestic trade performance was also driven by the 29.5-per cent growth in the ship chandlers & bunkering sector, and 16.1 per cent growth in telecommunications and computers.
The timber, paints & construction materials sector led the gains for foreign trade, recording an increase of 22.5 per cent on-year.
On a seasonally-adjusted basis, trade within Singapore dropped 0.9 per cent in the final quarter of 2011 from the previous period.
This was due to decreasing sales in general wholesale trade, petroleum and chemicals. These sectors contracted by between 3.9 per cent and 7.1 per cent from the third quarter 2011.
Meanwhile, foreign trade posted a quarter-on-quarter increase of 2.4 per cent. Foreign sales of electronic components rose 7.1 per cent, but sales of transport equipment outside of Singapore dropped 15.4 per cent.
After adjusting for price changes, domestic wholesale trade decreased 5.3 per cent on-year and 4.0 per cent over the previous quarter, while foreign wholesale trade registered a 2.1 per cent gain on-year and a decrease of 0.6 per cent on-quarter.
