Wholesale traders in New Zealand de-stocked in the June quarter and sales of wholesale goods and services fell further from March. The trend in wholesale trade sales was down 10.4% from the June quarter of 2008, the first fall over four consecutive quarters since Statistics New Zealand (Stats NZ) began this series in 1995.

These figures show that wholesalers and retailers are still struggling, but there are initial signs from the building sector that the housing market recovery is firing up parts of the economy again.

Actual wholesale sales were down 10.1% from the June quarter last year, with seasonally adjusted figures showing a 0.9% fall from the March 2009 quarter.

Wholesale sales of building supplies rose slightly in the June quarter from March, with seasonally adjusted figures showing a 1.3% increase over the quarter. Unadjusted figures show sales still down 9.9% from a year ago, although this was better than the 14.8% year-on-year fall seen in March.

"Petroleum product wholesaling, which is not seasonally adjusted, has been the main contributor to the total sales decreases in the latest two quarters," Stats NZ said.

"This is the fourth consecutive quarterly fall in sales for the petroleum product industry, down 8.9 percent ($153 million) in June 2009, and is the longest period of decline since the current series began in March 1995," it said.

Motor vehicle wholesaling rose 6.3% (s.a) from March, which was the first increase for the category since the September 2007 quarter.

Actual amounts of wholesale stocks held by traders were down 7.6% from the June quarter last year. Seasonally adjusted figures show stock decreases in each of the last three quarters, which is the longest period of decline in stocks since 1995, Stats NZ said.

"Stocks decreased in 12 of the 16 wholesale industries in the June 2009 quarter, led by metal and mineral wholesaling (down $124 million) and motor vehicle wholesaling (down $103 million). Both of these industries are not seasonally adjusted," Stats NZ said.

"The only notable increase in stocks for the June 2009 quarter was in the petroleum product industry (up $288 million), which is also not seasonally adjusted," it said.