SingStat revamps trade data with wider firm coverage, drops old index

The methodology removes industry weights by summing actual revenue across 12 specific trade categories.

The Singapore Department of Statistics (DOS) replaced the Wholesale Trade Index (WTI), discontinued in the fourth quarter of 2025, with the Wholesale Trade Dollar-Value Series (WTS), which took effect in the first quarter of the same year.

The transition to a register-based approach increases firm coverage from 1,116 to 19,768 entities in Q1 2026.

DOS uses Goods and Services Tax administrative data to achieve population coverage, whilst surveying larger firms through the Quarterly Survey of Services to produce estimates, reducing reliance on statistical weighting.

The WTS tracks domestic and foreign receipts across 12 wholesale trade groups, with the department publishing values at current prices and in chained volume terms.

Current prices account for price and quantity changes, whilst chained volume terms measure the volume of economic activity.

Total domestic receipts reached $114.9b in Q1 2025, whilst foreign receipts for the same period totalled $943b.

The petroleum sector generated $69.8b in domestic revenue and $425.7b in foreign revenue in that quarter.