WIESBADEN, Aug 30: Wholesalers in Germany reported a tentative increase in business in July, data published by the Federal Statistics Office showed on Friday.

German wholesale sales rose by 0.7 per cent on a 12-month basis in real or price-adjusted terms, the office said in a statement, even if they by slipped 0.1 per cent in nominal terms.

On a monthly basis, too, wholesalers reported a real or price-adjusted 1.7-per cent increase in sales in July from June, the office continued.

That was equivalent to a nominal increase of 2.0 per cent. But taking the first seven months of 2002 together, German wholesale sales were down by a nominal 5.0 per cent, compared with the figure for the corresponding period of 2001, the statistics office said.

And in real terms, wholesale sales fell by 4.2 per cent in the January-July period, it added.—AFP