Business Forum • 22 August, 2025 at 12:50 PM
The wholesale trade sector experienced an overall decline in H1 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. The turnover in this sector, excluding the trade of motor vehicles and motorcycles, dropped by 0.4% as a gross series and by 1.1% as a seasonally and working-day adjusted series, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INS).
This downturn was primarily driven by significant decreases in specific sub-sectors. The wholesale of agricultural raw products and live animals saw the largest drop, falling by 25.1%. The wholesale of other specialised products also decreased by 4.6%, while the wholesale of food, beverages, and tobacco saw a marginal decline of 0.8%.
Despite the overall negative trend, some areas of the wholesale market showed growth. Intermediation activities in wholesale trade registered a notable increase of 10.3%. Non-specialised wholesale trade also grew by 9.1%.
Additionally, the wholesale of other machinery, equipment, and supplies, along with the wholesale of consumer goods other than food, each grew by 6.9%. The wholesale of information and communication equipment also saw a positive change, increasing by 2.4%.
In a month-to-month comparison, wholesale trade turnover as a gross series grew by 2.0% in June 2025 compared to May 2025. This was largely due to an increase in the wholesale of agricultural raw products and live animals (+28.2%), as well as consumer goods other than food (+4.7%)11. However, when adjusted for seasonality and the number of working days, the total turnover for June 2025 saw a 0.5% decrease from the previous month.