Which two sectors lost big in foreign wholesale trade?

Transport equipment and houehold equipment & furniture both declined double-digits due to lower sales abroad.

Transport equipment contracted 15.4% while household equipment & furniture dipped 12.9% in 4Q11, a brutal reversal from the earlier quarter when both sectors experienced growth.

On the other hand, electronic components had a big rebound over the period, escaping the negative growth territory to post a 7.1% increase in foreign wholesale trade.

The Department of Statistics Singapore reported:

Quarter-on-Quarter Change (Seasonally Adjusted). After seasonal adjustment, sectors which reported positive growth in foreign sales in fourth quarter 2011 included electronic components (7.1%), timber, paints & construction materials (5.5%), petroleum & petroleum products (3.1%), industrial & construction machinery (1.5%) and telecommunications & computers (1.4%).

In contrast, transport equipment and household equipment & furniture sectors posted decreases of 15.4% and 12.9% respectively over third quarter 2011. Lower foreign sales were also reported by food, beverages & tobacco (-4.2%) and ship chandlers & bunkering (-1.6%) sectors.

Year-on-Year Change. Compared to the same period a year ago, timber, paints & construction materials and general wholesale trade sectors reported increases of 22.5% and 20.0% in foreign wholesale trade respectively. Industrial & construction machinery and telecommunications & computers sectors also reported positive growth of 14.8% and 13.8% respectively.

Positive growth was also registered for foreign wholesale trade of petroleum & petroleum products (20.5%), ship chandlers & bunkering (18.4%) and chemicals & chemical products (9.6%) sectors, due largely to higher prices compared to a year ago. After removing the price effect, the foreign sales of chemicals & chemical products, ship chandlers & bunkering and petroleum & petroleum products sectors declined by 7.3%, 7.2% and 6.4% respectively.

However, lower foreign sales were registered in transport equipment (-15.6%) and household
equipment & furniture (-9.5%) sectors compared to the same quarter last year.

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