Wholesale sales fell 0.4 percent in the March quarter with a rise in sales of basic materials cancelling out a decline in sales of machinery and equipment.
The latest rise follows a 2.3 percent increase in the December quarter last year.
The government statistician says the trend in wholesale sales has been rising since the September 2009 quarter.
In actual terms, the value of wholesale sales in the three months ended March was $20.6 billion, up 3.3 percent from the same three months last year.
