Wellington, Jun 7 (IANS): New Zealand's wholesale trade sales edged up 1 percent to more than 21 billion NZ dollars ($16.74 billion) in the quarter to the end of March, the government statistics agency announced Friday.
"Despite falls in sales in three of the six wholesale trade industries, total sales rose during the quarter," Statistics New Zealand industry and labour statistics manager Blair Cardno said in a statement.
"Other goods wholesaling and motor-vehicle and parts wholesaling had the largest increases."
The other goods wholesaling industry, which covers pharmaceuticals, furniture and textile materials, was up 3.2 percent, while the motor-vehicle and parts wholesaling rose 3.1 percent, reported Xinhua.
The trend for total wholesale trade sales has risen by 19 percent since the last low point in mid-2009.