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Wholesale Trade and Retail Sales: Construction Materials January 2008 - April 2025

Consumer Spending Rebounds but Wholesale Trade Slumps in April 2025

In April 2025, South Africa’s retail and wholesale trade sectors painted a mixed picture of economic activity. Retail trade sales grew strongly by 5.1% compared to the same month in 2024, marking a clear rebound from the 1.2% growth seen in March. The upturn was driven by robust spending in clothing, footwear, and general dealer outlets. On a month-to-month basis, seasonally adjusted retail sales rose by 0.9%, showing renewed momentum after earlier declines. However, when viewed over the three months ending in April, retail sales were 0.5% lower than in the previous quarter, suggesting some volatility in consumer demand across specific categories like food and tobacco.

In contrast, wholesale trade sales remained under pressure, declining by 6.5% year-on-year in April—deepening the contraction already observed in March. While seasonally adjusted sales did rise marginally by 0.9% compared to March, the overall trend points to ongoing weakness in business and industrial demand, likely influenced by declining manufacturing output and subdued restocking activity. Together, the data suggests that while consumers have shown resilience, broader trade dynamics remain fragile, particularly in the wholesale sector.

Sales of construction materials faced pressure in April 2025, as both wholesale and retail trade figures reflected mixed performance. Wholesale trade in construction materials declined by 4.5 percent year-on-year in nominal terms, mirroring the broader slowdown in the wholesale sector. Although total retail sales increased by 6.8 percent year-on-year, hardware stores bucked the trend, recording an 8.1 percent year-on-year drop—making it the only retail category to show a decline for the month, despite the overall rise in retail activity.

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