volume declined moderately by 3.8% in 2Q2009 compared to 2Q2008.<br><br> 2 Domestic Wholesale Trade by Sector Quarter-on-Quarter Change (Seasonally Adjusted) Most sectors in 2Q2009 registered positive growths in domestic wholesale trade over previous quarter after seasonal adjustment. The petroleum & petroleum products, general wholesale trade and chemicals & chemical products sectors showed improvements of 14.7% to 25.2% in domestic wholesale trade. After removing price effect, sales volume of the three sectors increased between 5.5% and 18.0%.<br><br> Likewise, domestic sales of industrial & construction machinery, household equipment & furniture and electronic components rose 4.6% to 11.5% in 2Q2009 compared to 1Q2009. On the other hand, timber, paints & construction materials sector reported a decline of 8.2% in domestic sales over the previous quarter. After adjusting for price changes, the trade volume declined slightly by 1.6% for the sector.<br><br> Year-on-Year Change On a year-on-year basis, domestic wholesale trade fell in 2Q2009 for most wholesale trade sectors except the food, beverages & tobacco and household equipment & furniture sectors. Domestic wholesale trade of petroleum & petroleum products, ship chandlers & bunkering and chemicals & chemical products sectors were between 30.3% and 38.0% lower than a year ago, largely due to lower prices. After removing price effect, the sales volume of these three sectors increased by 5.6% to 19.7%.<br><br> Similarly, the electronic components, timber, paints & construction materials, telecommunications & computers, general wholesale trade and transport equipment also experienced year-on-year declines of 4.7% to 29.5%. 3 Foreign Wholesale Trade by Sector Quarter-on-Quarter Change (Seasonally Adjusted) After seasonal adjustment, most sectors registered higher foreign sales in 2Q2009 over 1Q2009. The household equipment & furniture, petroleum & petroleum products, general wholesale trade and timber, paints & construction materials sectors reported quarter-on-quarter improvements of 20.2% to 28.8%.<br><br> Other sectors including chemicals & chemical products, ship chandlers & bunkering, food, beverages & tobacco and electronic components showed smaller positive growths of 5.8% to 15.4% in 2Q2009 over 1Q2009. In contrast, industrial & construction machinery sector experienced lower sales of 12.6%. Year-on-Year Change In foreign wholesale trade, all sectors reported lower sales in 2Q2009 compared to 2Q2008.<br><br> The petroleum & petroleum products and ship chandlers & bunkering sectors fell 42.9% and 35.1% respectively due to lower oil prices. After adjusting for price changes, foreign trade volume of these two sectors showed year-on-year growths of 7.7% and 20.0% respectively. Other sectors that registered relatively significant declines in 2Q2009 over 2Q2008 are industrial & construction machinery (-32.4%), chemicals & chemical products (-31.6%), timber, paints & construction materials (-29.4%), general wholesale trade (-25.0%), household equipment & furniture (-24.4%), transport equipment (-19.7%), electronic components (- 18.7%) and telecommunications & computers (-11.9%).<br><br> 4 1Q09 / 4Q08 2Q09 / 1Q09 1Q09 / 4Q08 2Q09 / 1Q09 Total 10,000 -10.0 7.3 -3.0 8.4 Total (Excluding petroleum) 5,604 -7.2 2.0 -3.1 1.5 Food, Beverages & Tobacco 407 -4.9 -1.3 -3.2 -0.5 Household Equipment & Furniture 298 -3.5 4.9 -5.0 5.2 Petroleum & Petroleum Products 4,396 -17.8 25.2 -3.0 18.0 Chemicals & Chemical Products 406 -22.3 14.7 -8.9 5.5 Electronic Components 839 -13.7 4.6 -15.4 6.4 Industrial & Construction M achinery 285 -5.7 11.5 -7.3 17.2 Telecommunications & Computers 567 7.2 1.1 6.3 4.0 Timber, Paints & Construction M aterials 357 -5.7 -8.2 0.0 -1.6 General W holesale Trade 572 -11.6 22.0 -5.9 16.5 Ship Chandlers & Bunkering 883 -26.7 -0.4 -10.0 -16.0 Other W holesale Trade 800 -2.5 -3.7 -4.2 -1.6 1Q09 / 4Q08 2Q09 / 1Q09 1Q09 / 4Q08 2Q09 / 1Q09 Total 10,000 -9.6 6.7 -0.9 2.0 Total (Excluding petroleum) 5,456 -9.2 5.7 -6.4 5.9 Food, Beverages & Tobacco 374 5.7 8.4 5.4 9.1 Household Equipment & Furniture 287 -29.7 28.8 -29.5 30.3 Petroleum & Petroleum Products 4,544 -17.2 28.0 4.5 0.6 Chemicals & Chemical Products 513 -7.7 15.4 6.5 5.6 Electronic Components 1,084 -4.9 5.8 -6.1 9.5 Industrial & Construction M achinery 257 -19.5 -12.6 -19.3 -10.8 Telecommunications & Computers 799 -16.5 -1.0 -15.0 0.6 Timber, Paints & Construction M aterials 186 -25.8 20.2 -19.3 21.9 General W holesale Trade 574 -17.5 20.8 -14.1 20.1 Ship Chandlers & Bunkering 229 -23.9 9.7 -5.6 -6.7 Other W holesale Trade 865 -13.6 2.3 -5.1 2.4 1 The industry "Transport Equipment" is not presented in showing seasonally adjusted figures. The series was first introduced in 1Q2007 and is too short for seasonsal adjustment. Table 2 Quarter-on-Quarter Change of Foreign Wholesale Trade Index (2007=100) 1 (Seasonally Adjusted) Activity % Change at Current Prices % Change at Constant Prices W eights % Change at Current Prices % Change at Constant Prices Table 1 Quarter-on-Quarter Change of Domestic Wholesale Trade Index (2007=100) 1 (Seasonally Adjusted) Activity W eights 5 1Q09 / 1Q08 2Q09 / 2Q08 1Q09 / 1Q08 2Q09 / 2Q08 Total 10,000 -34.8 -28.1 -7.3 3.2 Total (Excluding petroleum) 5,604 -22.1 -17.8 -10.8 -5.8 Food, Beverages & Tobacco 407 -4.5 0.4 -7.8 -0.8 Household Equipment & Furniture 298 -9.4 2.4 -12.9 -2.5 Petroleum & Petroleum Products 4,396 -49.0 -38.0 -2.6 15.2 Chemicals & Chemical Products 406 -36.3 -30.3 -4.7 5.6 Electronic Components 839 -35.8 -29.5 -37.5 -31.6 Industrial & Construction M achinery 285 -9.5 -1.9 -13.7 -4.7 Telecommunications & Computers 567 -11.5 -10.1 -13.1 -11.4 Timber, Paints & Construction M aterials 357 -13.5 -25.1 -12.8 -17.5 General W holesale Trade 572 -31.2 -5.7 -16.5 17.5 Ship Chandlers & Bunkering 883 -36.9 -34.5 13.8 19.7 Transport Equipment 190 -19.6 -4.7 -23.1 -8.6 Other W holesale Trade 800 -4.2 -11.3 -5.1 -10.9 1Q09 / 1Q08 2Q09 / 2Q08 1Q09 / 1Q08 2Q09 / 2Q08 Total 10,000 -35.3 -31.6 -8.7 -3.8 Total (Excluding petroleum) 5,456 -24.6 -19.8 -18.2 -11.8 Food, Beverages & Tobacco 374 -4.9 -0.8 -11.9 -4.8 Household Equipment & Furniture 287 -37.7 -24.4 -36.1 -23.6 Petroleum & Petroleum Products 4,544 -46.9 -42.9 4.3 7.7 Chemicals & Chemical Products 513 -37.3 -31.6 -11.5 2.2 Electronic Components 1,084 -27.3 -18.7 -29.6 -20.7 Industrial & Construction M achinery 257 -22.7 -32.4 -26.0 -34.3 Telecommunications & Computers 799 -13.8 -11.9 -11.4 -11.0 Timber, Paints & Construction M aterials 186 -34.8 -29.4 -28.0 -16.1 General W holesale Trade 574 -39.6 -25.0 -33.7 -15.1 Ship Chandlers & Bunkering 229 -35.4 -35.1 12.5 20.0 Transport Equipment 288 -18.9 -19.7 -26.1 -28.3 Other W holesale Trade 865 -18.0 -17.7 -2.2 -0.8 Table 4 Year-on-Year Change of Foreign Wholesale Trade Index (2007=100) Activity % Change at Current Prices % Change at Constant Prices W eights Table 3 Year-on-Year Change of Domestic Wholesale Trade Index (2007=100) Activity % Change at Current Prices % Change at Constant Prices W eights 6 E E x x p p l l a a n n a a t t o o r r y y N N o o t t e e s s Introduction The Wholesale Trade Index (WTI) measures the performance of wholesale trade activities.<br><br> Two series of the WTI are compiled - the Domestic WTI and Foreign WTI. The Domestic WTI records wholesale sales in Singapore. The Foreign WTI pertains to wholesale sales outside Singapore, which comprises domestic exports, re-exports, transhipment cargo and offshore merchandise.<br><br> The WTI indices are presented at both current prices and constant prices. The indices at current prices measure the changes of sales value which can result from changes in both price and quantity. By removing the price effect, the indices at constant prices measure the changes in the sales volume.<br><br> To reflect the changes in the structure of the wholesale trade sector over the years, the weighting patterns of the index series are revised regularly. The WTI series have been re-based from base year 2000 to 2007, the second re-basing exercise since the index was first introduced in 1995. The new WTI series (2007 =100) have been released with effect from 1Q2008 report.<br><br> Data Collection Data for the compilation of the WTI are obtained from the results of the quarterly survey of over 1,000 wholesale establishments. Wholesalers supply the merchandise to manufacturers, commercial and institutional clients for use in production, or to other wholesalers and retailers for resale. Wholesalers may also perform related functions such as sorting, breaking bulk, packing and logistics services.<br><br> Data are collected from a sample of the wholesale establishments for quarterly domestic wholesale sales and foreign wholesale sales. Index Compilation To derive the Domestic / Foreign WTI index at detailed industry level, the quarterly domestic / foreign wholesale sales for that industry is divided by the average quarterly domestic / foreign sales for the same industry in base year. The overall WTI index is then computed by combining the sales indices of the detailed industries, using the weights to measure each industry 9s relative importance in the overall wholesale trade sector.<br><br> To derive the constant prices indices, the sales indices at current prices at the detailed industry level are first deflated by appropriate price indices. These component indices at constant prices are then weighted and aggregated to derive the overall indices at constant prices. Seasonal Adjustment Seasonal effects are observed in some of the Domestic WTI and Foreign WTI series, due to intra- year periodic variations that repeat in the same quarter every year.<br><br> Seasonal adjustment is the process of estimating and removing the seasonal effects from a time series to show more clearly its underlying trend and short-term movements. Singapore Department of Statistics 21 Aug 2009 More data are available at SingStat website at http://www.singstat.gov.sg/pubn/business.html#wti For enquiries, please contact: Ms Priscilla Lim; Tel: 6332 8058; Email: Priscilla_Lim@singstat.gov.sg

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