Singapore's first quarter domestic wholesale trade rose 26.5 percent from a year ago, faster than a 22.2 percent gain in the fourth quarter, as sales of petroleum and oil products boomed amid record crude prices.
The expansion in domestic wholesale trade, a barometer of consumer confidence in Singapore, has risen every quarter since a contraction in the fourth quarter of 2006, helped by healthy sales of food, building materials and petroleum products.
Excluding petroleum, domestic sales rose 12.2 percent compared with a year ago, according to data from the Department of Statistics. Petroleum and its related products account for 44 percent of the domestic wholesale trade index.
Petroleum and petroleum products rose 47.4 percent in the first quarter from the previous year, while chemicals and chemical products rose 8.7 percent. Wholesale trade of ship chandlers and bunkering was up 43.1 percent. Domestic sales of electronic components, which make up about 8 percent of the index, fell 10.9 percent in the first quarter compared with a year ago.
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