Liquid and gaseous fuels soar in Wholesale trade sales [infographic]

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released the wholesale trade sales results for the month ending in May 2019.

While sectors such as textiles, metals and intermediate products had sluggish performances, solid, liquid and gaseous fuels soared, carrying the bulk of the positive outlook for the wholesale market.

Wholesale trade sales results: Methodology

Stats SA used data pulled from businesses in the wholesale trade industry, that are registered at the South African Revenue Services (Sars) for value-added tax (VAT) and income tax, to formulate a business sampling frame (BSF) that allows us to see how the industry is performing, on a month-to-month basis.

The agency noted that in some of the stats, “information for the latest month had to be estimated due to late responses.”

However, these estimates will surely be revised in the next survey releases.

“The results of the monthly wholesale trade sales survey are used to compile estimates of the gross domestic product (GDP) and its components, which are used in monitoring the state of the economy and formulation of economic policy. These statistics are also used in the analysis of comparative business and industry performance,” Stats SA noted.

Key statistics pulled from wholesale trade sales

The infographic below provides a better understanding of how the wholesale trade industry performed in the five months leading up to May 2018, compared to the same period in 2018.

Some sectors, including agricultural raw materials and livestock, food, beverages and tobacco, and textiles, clothing and footwear saw increases, although they were negligible.

However, the bulk of the increased sales at current prices — 6,0% in May 2019 compared with May 2018 — was due to:

• solid, liquid and gaseous fuels and related products (13,5% and contributing 3,0 percentage points); and
• construction and building materials (20,4% and contributing 1,1 percentage points)

See the infographic below for more key stats from this industry’s sales performance.