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We take a look at the wholesale trade numbers as published by Statistics South Africa and compare the value of wholesale trade in South Africa to that of the retail trade industry. We also compare the year on year growth rate of wholesale trade to that of retail trade sales.
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So wholesale trade sales looking a little better than retail trade sales?
So the latest wholesale trade sales numbers for September 2018 shows that wholesale trade sales (adjusted for inflation and seasonal effects) increased by 8.4% year on year compared to retail that only grew by 1.1% over the same time period. So why the spike in wholesale trade sales compared to retail trade sales? Well a number of the wholesale sub categories had very strong growth year on year in September 2018. The summary below shows the year on year growth rates of the various wholesale categories in September 2018:
Clearly some of the big drivers in Wholesale trade such as solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and other intermediate products, waste and scrap and machinery and equipment and supplies are items that are not usually bought by retail consumers, and this could explain some of the difference in year on year growth rates between wholesale and retail trade. The chart below compares the year on year growth rates of both wholesale and retail trade sales over the last couple of years
- Agricultural raw materials and livestock: 7.9%
- Food beverages and tobacco: -4.0%
- Textiles clothing and footware: -8.6%
- Other household goods except precious stones: 10.9%
- Precious stones, jewellery and silverware: 84.7%
- Solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and related products: 35.4%
- Metals and metal ores: 15.7%
- Construction and building materials: -2.2%
- Other intermediate products, waste and scrap: 12.0%
- Machinery, equipment and supplies: 16.3%
- Trade in other goods: 0.5%
Clearly some of the big drivers in Wholesale trade such as solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and other intermediate products, waste and scrap and machinery and equipment and supplies are items that are not usually bought by retail consumers, and this could explain some of the difference in year on year growth rates between wholesale and retail trade. The chart below compares the year on year growth rates of both wholesale and retail trade sales over the last couple of years
When one looks at the graphic above though it becomes clear that while wholesale might have shown the stronger year on year growth in August and September 2018, over the period looked at, since the start of 2016, the wholesale sector has actually struggled more than the retail trade sector.
The average growth in wholesale and retail trade sales is shown below (again the data refers to seasonally adjusted and adjusted for inflation)
So lets look at the two industry's relative size. Just how big is South Africa's wholesale trade sales compared to South Africa's retail trade sales? The line chart below shows retail sales as a percentage of wholesale trade sales.
The average growth in wholesale and retail trade sales is shown below (again the data refers to seasonally adjusted and adjusted for inflation)
- Wholesale trade sales: -0.02%
- Retail trade sales: 2.46%
So lets look at the two industry's relative size. Just how big is South Africa's wholesale trade sales compared to South Africa's retail trade sales? The line chart below shows retail sales as a percentage of wholesale trade sales.
From the line chart above it is clear that retail is growing as a percentage of wholesale trade, but in saying that the total value of retail trade sales is still less than half of that of wholesale trade sales. Showing just how big the wholesale trade sales industry is compared to South Africa's retail trade sales. In September 2018 the wholesale and retail trade sales amounted to:
- Wholesale trade sales: R162 billion
- Retail trade sales: R77.44 billion