Domestic wholesale trade of petroleum sector down 2.9%

The decrease was arrived at after removing the price effect.

On a year-on-year basis, domestic sales of petroleum & petroleum products sector grew by 17.8% before adjusting for price changes.

The Department of Statistics said electronic components, transport equipment, chemicals & chemical products, household equipment & furniture and telecommunications & computers sectors reported declines of between 1.0% and 7.3%.

Overall, domestic wholesale trade in first quarter 2011 grew by 8.3% compared to the same period a year ago. Sectors that posted increases in domestic sales included food, beverages & tobacco (9.6%), general wholesale trade (8.8%), industrial & construction machinery (4.8%) and ship chandlers & bunkering (4.1%).