WELLINGTON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Basic material wholesaling, including agricultural products, petroleum, metal and mineral, and timber in the first quarter of 2017, kept New Zealand's wholesale trade sales up for the fourth straight quarter, the government statistics agency said Tuesday.
Wholesale trade sales were up 2.1 percent from the December quarter, when they rose 1.1 percent, following another 1.1-percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to Statistics New Zealand.
"The March quarter's rise in total wholesaling was led by basic material wholesaling," said business indicators manager Craig Liken.
Five of the six wholesaling industries rose in the first quarter of 2017.
The largest industry increase was in basic material wholesaling, which was up 3.7 percent, or 186 million NZ dollars (133.36 million U.S. dollars), from the fourth quarter of last year.
Motor vehicle and motor vehicle parts saw an increase of 3.8 percent, or 94 million NZ dollars (67.4 million U.S. dollars). Other industries' wholesaling, which includes textile, clothing, footwear, pharmaceutical and toiletry goods, and furniture and floor coverings, saw a rise of 2.3 percent, or 88 million NZ dollars (63 million U.S. dollars).
The trend for wholesale trade sales has generally been increasing since late 2009, according to the statistics agency.
The actual value of wholesale trade sales was 23.4 billion NZ dollars (16.78 billion U.S. dollars) in the latest quarter, up 5.3 percent from the same quarter of 2016.
