5 Mar 2009

Wholesale sales down

12:27 pm on 5 March 2009

Seasonally adjusted wholesale trade slipped in the final three months of last year, for the second consecutive quarter.

Statistics New Zealand says the fall was 2.3% on top of a 1% fall in the September quarter.

The agency says part of the fall was due to a reclassification of some food wholesaling to manufacturing.

Largest contributors were falls in metals and minerals which were down by $197 million. Electrical equipment fell by $121 million.