Wholesale trade
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Wholesale sales fell 0.6% in February to $46.9 billion, largely as a result of lower sales in the motor vehicle and parts and the miscellaneous subsectors. This decline followed six months of consecutive increases.
In volume terms, wholesale sales declined 1.0% in February.
Despite the decrease in February, wholesale sales were 16.8% higher than their most recent low in March 2009. Since then, wholesalers have increased in 18 of the past 23 months.
Declines were observed in four of the seven subsectors in February, representing approximately half of the total sales.
Motor vehicle sales post the largest decrease
Sales in the motor vehicle and parts subsector fell 3.1% in February, owing to decreased sales in the motor vehicle industry. This industry registered a 4.3% decline, partially offsetting the strong growth in January. Sales in this industry have remained relatively stable since the end of 2009.
Sales in the miscellaneous subsector were down 3.5%, reflecting lower sales in all of its component industries. The agricultural supplies industry led the decline, with a 5.6% decrease in sales.
The other subsectors with lower sales included personal and household goods (-0.7%) and farm products (-3.2%).
These decreases were partially offset by a 2.0% sales increase in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector.
Sales down in most provinces
Sales fell in eight provinces in February, while sales edged up in Ontario and New Brunswick.
Note to readers
All the data in this release are seasonally adjusted and in current dollars, unless otherwise noted.
Unadjusted monthly data were revised back to January 2009, while seasonally adjusted data were revised back to January 2006. Factors influencing revisions include late receipt of respondent information, correction of information in the data provided, the replacement of estimated figures with actual values (once available), the reclassification of companies within, into and out of the wholesale trade industry and updates to seasonal factors.
Data in volume terms have also been revised back to January 2004.
Wholesale sales in volume terms are calculated by deflating current dollar values using import and industry product price indexes. Since many of the goods sold by wholesalers are imported, fluctuations in the value of the Canadian dollar can have an important influence on the prices of goods bought and sold by wholesalers.
The wholesale sales series in chained (2002) dollars is a chained Fisher volume index with 2002 as the reference year.
Quebec wholesalers contributed the most to the decline, followed by wholesalers in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
In Quebec, sales were down for the first time in five months, falling 1.7%. This decrease was largely a result of lower sales in the miscellaneous subsector and in the personal and household goods subsector.
In Alberta, sales decreased for a second consecutive month. These declines followed a period of robust growth that began in late 2009, driven by strong sales in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector.
In Saskatchewan, the 2.5% decrease in February followed a strong sales increase in January.
Inventories up slightly
Inventories rose 0.3% in February to $54.3 billion. Wholesale inventories have been up since the start of 2010, after falling sharply in 2009.
In February, increases were reported by wholesalers in 14 of the 25 industries, led by the metal service centres industry (+3.3%) and the motor vehicle industry (+2.2%).
The inventory-to-sales ratio edged up from 1.15 in January to 1.16 in February. The inventory-to-sales ratio is a measure of the time in months required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Available on CANSIM: tables 081-0011 to 081-0013.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2401.
The February 2011 issue of Wholesale Trade (63-008-X, free) will be available soon.
Wholesale trade data for March will be released on May 18.
To obtain data, or general information, contact Client Services (613-951-3549; toll-free 1-877-421-3067; wholesaleinfo@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Karim El hassani (613-951-0608; karim.elhassani@statcan.gc.ca), Distributive Trades Division.
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