Domestic wholesale sales decline 4.4% in Q4 2024
The industrial & construction machinery sector saw a 22.6% decline.
Singapore’s domestic wholesale sales fell 4.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, data from the Department of Statistics Singapore (SingStat) showed.
Excluding petroleum, the decline was a more moderate 0.7%. However, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, seasonally adjusted domestic wholesale sales rose by 4.6%, with a 1.3% increase when petroleum sales were excluded.
The industrial & construction machinery sector experienced the steepest decline at 22.6%, primarily due to weaker sales of electrical and wiring accessories. The ship chandlers & bunkering and petroleum & petroleum products industries also posted significant declines of 14.1% and 10.4%, respectively, attributed to falling bunker fuel and crude oil prices.
Meanwhile, metals, timber & construction materials (+30.3%) and transport equipment (+21.8%) grew due to strong sales of metals and motor vehicles.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, industrial & construction machinery dropped 8.1%, whilst ship chandlers & bunkering fell 7.2% due to lower bunker fuel prices.
However, the electronic components reported a 16.3% increase due to higher demand.