Wholesale has had its share of ups and downs, but the real news is in the fact that while other industries have experienced flagging sales, or periods of disappointments in their profitability forecasts, wholesale has been blazing a trail to success, as thousands of new suppliers and eager sellers enter the arena to create a new and more dynamic business environment than ever before.

In Sri Lanka, the mood is one of hopeful futures, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing a coalition of Government officials at Temple Trees, the official residence of the Prime Minister. The meeting went on to describe a new and bold climate where trade would become a highly necessary force to increase profits and bulk up Sri Lanka’s national earnings, as the new year gets fully underway. The President also sought the support of local Sri Lankan importers and wholesalers to do their part to keep the market stable and active.

It’s big news for traders who are currently doing business with the small nation, since this can only have an expected impact of increasing trade volume and perhaps even bringing new and higher-end products to the table as well. One of the main points brought forth during the discussions was an initiative to control price surges on commodities that are fluctuating wildly in global markets.

Importers Association representatives pinpointed the problems they face in importing essential commodities at the meeting, with Cooperatives and Internal Trade Minister Johnston Fernando, Deputy Minister Geethanjana Gunawardena, Finance Ministry Secretary PB Jayasundara and representatives of Wholesalers Association in Pettah participating in the meetings, in addition to other influential members of the trade community.

In other news, a text of the December U.S. wholesale inventories report from the Commerce Department was released to the public recently, and pinpointed the following aspects of wholesale trade today:

Intention to Revise: – A report on Monthly Wholesale sales, inventories, and inventories/sales ratios will be revised based on a combination of results from the 2009 Annual Wholesale Trade Survey, and the final results of the 2007 Economic Census.

Sales – The U.S. Census Bureau announced that December 2010 sales of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices. These figures are produced after factoring  adjustments for seasonal variations and trading-day differences but not for price changes.

Inventories – Total inventories of merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices were released. Figures were factored after adjustment for seasonal variations but not for price changes.

Inventories/Sales Ratio – The December inventories/sales ratio for merchant wholesalers, except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, based on seasonally adjusted data, was 1.16. The December 2009 ratio was 1.17.

All in all, the Wholesale Sector Continues Record Breaking Sales, as giant corporations like Metro AG, Germany’s biggest retailer, plan to open as many as 50 wholesale stores in the next five years in various parts of India. This is noteworthy especially because of the fact that the projected growth of the company in a new Middle Eastern territory is also matching the pace of the company’s expansion in China, which is currently ranked as the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

India, along with the other top regions in China and Russia, will be one of the high priority three major markets for the German retailer in the coming years.

Plans are being made to open as many as 12 wholesale stores in India, by the end of 2011. Metro also plans to do what some other companies have not been particularly keen on doing, which is to create three hubs for its accounting department with one each in Germany, India and Poland, from its currently centralized operations in its home market. According to company spokespersons, The basic reason for doing this is not cost-driven, but process driven.

Around the world, overall Wholesale http://www.toptenwholesale.com sales and inventories are indicating that the economy is indeed growing.