This is an informative publication, sponsored by The Fiji Sun, Fiji Bureau of Statistics and HFC Bank. All views expressed or implied are purely of the Financial Markets Analyst at the HFC Bank, Shoran Devi.

The wholesale and retail trade statistics are key economic data to gauge the pattern of consumer spending over a period of time.

It is an important component of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which measures the output produc­tion of an economy, and are part of many economic models used by public and private agencies.

Wholesale and retail trade

The wholesale and retail trade sta­tistics are released every quarter by the Fiji Bureau of Statistics.

The indicator tracks the dollar val­ue of merchandise sold within the wholesale and retail sector and cov­ers registered businesses engaged in these sector including repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles that accounts for 80 per cent of total turnover in this business sector.

In general, the wholesale and re­tail sectors act as intermediary in the distribution of merchandise between producers and consumers of goods.

Wholesalers

The wholesalers comprises estab­lishments engaged in wholesaling merchandise, generally without transformation, and rendering ser­vices incidental to the sale of mer­chandise.

They neither produce nor con­sume the finished product, but instead sell to retailers, other mer­chants, and/or to industrial, insti­tutional, and commercial users.

Wholesalers usually do not deal di­rectly with the end user.

Retailers

Retailers on the other hand, in­clude establishments that are en­gaged in the sale of merchandise for personal or household consump­tion and in the rendering of servic­es that are incidental to the sale of the merchandise.

They normally engage in activi­ties to attract the general public to buy their products and they offer goods and services directly to con­sumers.

Typically, such businesses offer goods and services for sale directly to the ultimate consumers, usually private individuals.

Statistics

The latest release from the Fiji Bureau of Statistics for the March quarter of 2018 showed that total wholesale and retail trade sales stood at $1,009.2 million.

Total sales decline by 1.5 per cent ($15.8 million) when compared to the December quarter of 2017 due to decrease in the sale of food and non-alcoholic beverages and hard­ware, paints and glass.

This is however seasonal in na­ture, as total sales normally peak in the final quarter during the festive season.

Comparison

When compared to the March quarter of 2017, total sales rose by 4.0 percent ($39.2 million) due to an increase in the sale of textile and clothing in specialised stores and hardware, paints and glass.

Financial market participants

The wholesale and retail sales sta­tistics are very closely followed by various financial market partici­pants.

It forms a very integral part of op­erational planning for businesses.

By reference to these statistics to­gether with other demand side data, businesses can plan their supply ac­cordingly.

Also, within the wholesale and retail trade statistic, investors are able to identify valuable trends among different types of goods and services of different industries and so plan their investment portfolio accordingly.

Analysis

The Reserve Bank uses this data to analyse recent trends in consumer purchases as part of their overall analysis of the economic activity.

In more advanced economies, such as that of the United States, the re­lease of trade data can cause huge volatility in the stock market due to it being used as one of the major predictors of inflationary pressure.

Generally, a slow growth in sales may indicate that consumers are not spending as much as they used to, and that could signal a possible decline in economic activities due to the significant role personal con­sumption plays in the health of the economy.

For our domestic economy, the outlook for the second quarter is positive given the support provided by Government to those who were affected by the two cyclones and floods in early April through the Homes Care and Farms Care initia­tives.

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