Domestic wholesale trade in Singapore contracted 22.6 percent in the first quarter of 2016 year-on-year, said Department of Statistics Singapore on Friday in its latest report.

Excluding petroleum, domestic wholesale trade declined 11.4 percent compared to the same period last year, according to the report. The decline in nominal domestic wholesale trade value was due partly to lower prices of petroleum and chemical products. After adjusting for price changes, overall domestic wholesale trade registered a smaller year-on-year decrease of 1.7 percent.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, domestic wholesale trade declined 17.2 percent in the first quarter this year over the fourth quarter in 2015. Excluding petroleum, domestic wholesale trade decreased at a smaller extent of 7.2 percent. After removing the price effect, overall domestic wholesale trade fell 10.9 percent over the previous quarter.

As for foreign wholesale trade, it dropped 17.4 percent year-on-year due partly to lower prices of petroleum and chemical products. Excluding petroleum, foreign wholesale trade decreased 13.2 percent. After adjusting for price changes, overall foreign wholesale trade grew 4.0 percent on a year-on-year basis.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, foreign wholesale trade fell 13.0 percent in the first quarter this year compared with the previous time period. Excluding petroleum, foreign wholesale trade decreased 8.6 percent over the fourth quarter in 2015. After removing the price effect, overall foreign wholesale trade registered a smaller decrease of 0.8 percent.

Wholesale Trade Index (WTI), composed of two series, namely domestic WTI and foreign WTI, measures the short-term performance of wholesale trade activities. The indices are presented at both current prices and constant prices.

The indices at current prices measure the changes in 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.