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Wholesale sales in current dollars rose 3.0% in January to $44.4 billion, the strongest increase in three years. Canadian wholesale sales have maintained an upward trend since mid-2009.
In volume terms, wholesale sales grew by 2.9%.
The higher sales in January reflected increases in all sectors. In particular, four sectors accounted for 80% of the growth: automotive products; building materials; machinery and electronic equipment; and "other products."
Sales in the automotive products sector grew by 4.8% to $7.8 billion in January, a fourth consecutive increase. This advance was entirely attributable to the motor vehicles group (+6.1%), while sales of motor vehicle parts and accessories edged down 0.3%.
Wholesale sales of building materials reached $6.0 billion in January. The three trade groups that comprise this sector all increased. The largest gains were recorded in the metal products group and the building supplies group.
Higher sales in the building materials sector coincided with an increase in housing starts in Canada. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, housing starts in January were up 5.8% from December.
The machinery and electronic equipment sector posted a 2.6% increase, reflecting sharply higher sales in the machinery and equipment group.
Sales in the "other products" sector grew by 4.1%, largely due to a surge in sales of agricultural chemicals. These products account for approximately one-quarter of the sales of this sector, which also includes recycled materials, paper products and non-agricultural chemicals.
Note to readers
All the data in this release are seasonally adjusted and in current dollars, unless otherwise noted.
Wholesale trade sales expressed in volume 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 the 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.
Starting with the next release, estimates for the Monthly Wholesale Trade Survey will reflect a new sample. In addition, the presentation of results will change from the Trade Groups to the North American Industry Classification System (see concordance table).
Current tables 081-0007 to 081-0010 will be terminated and replaced by new CANSIM matrices 081-0011 to 081-0013. Estimates for February 2010 as well as estimates from January 2004 will be available in these new CANSIM tables in the next release.
Most provinces post gains
Except for Nova Scotia, all provinces posted higher wholesale sales in January.
Saskatchewan (+18.4%) registered the largest provincial gain in percentage terms. This growth was attributable to rising sales in the "other products" sector. This was the strongest increase in wholesale sales in Saskatchewan since July 1993.
In British Columbia, wholesale sales rose 4.0% in January, largely due to the automotive products and machinery and electronic equipment sectors.
Wholesale sales increased by 2.4% in both Quebec and Ontario. The sales increase in Quebec was attributable to higher sales in the personal and household goods and building materials sectors. Ontario wholesalers greatly benefited from strong sales in the automotive products sector.
Inventory-to-sales ratio declines
Wholesale trade inventories declined 1.1% in January to $52.8 billion, their lowest level since December 2006. This was the 11th consecutive monthly decline.
Overall, 11 of the 15 wholesale trade groups reported reduced inventories in January. The trade groups whose inventories showed the largest declines in dollar terms were machinery and equipment (-2.0%) and "other products" (-3.2%).
Increased sales for wholesalers, combined with decreased inventories, led to a decline in the inventory-to-sales ratio, which fell from 1.24 in December to 1.19 in January. By way of comparison, the inventory-to-sales ratio reached a high of 1.44 in March 2009.
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 081-0007 to 081-0010.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2401.
The January 2010 issue of Wholesale Trade (63-008-X, free) will be available soon.
Wholesale trade data for February will be released on April 21.
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 Trade Division.
Table 1
| January 2009 | October 2009r | November 2009r | December 2009r | January 2010p | December 2009 to January 2010 | January 2009 to January 2010 | December 2009r | January 2010p | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale inventories | Inventory-to-sales ratio | ||||||||
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||||||
| $ millions | % change | ||||||||
| Inventories | 58,641 | 53,803 | 53,722 | 53,378 | 52,805 | -1.1 | -10.0 | 1.24 | 1.19 |
| Farm products | 178 | 167 | 152 | 153 | 158 | 3.3 | -11.1 | 0.32 | 0.32 |
| Food products | 4,633 | 4,464 | 4,519 | 4,522 | 4,556 | 0.7 | -1.7 | 0.62 | 0.61 |
| Alcohol and tobacco | 421 | 389 | 395 | 399 | 397 | -0.5 | -5.7 | 0.48 | 0.49 |
| Apparel | 2,109 | 1,850 | 1,798 | 1,766 | 1,756 | -0.6 | -16.7 | 1.92 | 1.93 |
| Household and personal products | 4,045 | 3,646 | 3,580 | 3,497 | 3,480 | -0.5 | -14.0 | 1.27 | 1.27 |
| Pharmaceuticals | 4,086 | 4,165 | 4,404 | 4,228 | 4,147 | -1.9 | 1.5 | 1.26 | 1.17 |
| Motor vehicles | 4,089 | 3,689 | 3,780 | 3,836 | 3,904 | 1.8 | -4.5 | 0.64 | 0.61 |
| Motor vehicle parts and accessories | 3,346 | 3,394 | 3,341 | 3,292 | 3,285 | -0.2 | -1.8 | 2.23 | 2.23 |
| Building supplies | 6,371 | 5,982 | 5,940 | 5,829 | 5,791 | -0.7 | -9.1 | 1.54 | 1.47 |
| Metal products | 3,248 | 2,580 | 2,573 | 2,513 | 2,481 | -1.3 | -23.6 | 2.19 | 2.01 |
| Lumber and millwork | 1,040 | 868 | 831 | 850 | 862 | 1.4 | -17.1 | 1.07 | 1.09 |
| Machinery and equipment | 12,542 | 11,457 | 11,412 | 11,348 | 11,118 | -2.0 | -11.3 | 2.80 | 2.58 |
| Computer and other electronic equipment | 1,754 | 1,646 | 1,703 | 1,607 | 1,556 | -3.2 | -11.3 | 0.59 | 0.57 |
| Office and professional equipment | 2,940 | 2,637 | 2,599 | 2,570 | 2,566 | -0.2 | -12.7 | 1.23 | 1.24 |
| Other products | 7,841 | 6,868 | 6,695 | 6,969 | 6,749 | -3.2 | -13.9 | 1.32 | 1.22 |
Table 2
| January 2009 | October 2009r | November 2009r | December 2009r | January 2010p | December 2009 to January 2010 | January 2009 to January 2010 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally adjusted | |||||||
| $ millions | % change | ||||||
| Total, wholesale sales | 41,115 | 41,499 | 42,677 | 43,053 | 44,365 | 3.0 | 7.9 |
| Farm products | 460 | 450 | 471 | 481 | 500 | 3.9 | 8.8 |
| Food, beverages and tobacco products | 8,241 | 8,021 | 8,200 | 8,161 | 8,263 | 1.2 | 0.3 |
| Food products | 7,475 | 7,236 | 7,403 | 7,338 | 7,451 | 1.5 | -0.3 |
| Alcohol and tobacco | 765 | 785 | 798 | 823 | 812 | -1.3 | 6.1 |
| Personal and household goods | 6,762 | 6,949 | 7,116 | 7,042 | 7,187 | 2.1 | 6.3 |
| Apparel | 821 | 808 | 844 | 920 | 908 | -1.3 | 10.6 |
| Household and personal products | 2,640 | 2,661 | 2,698 | 2,761 | 2,733 | -1.0 | 3.5 |
| Pharmaceuticals | 3,302 | 3,480 | 3,574 | 3,361 | 3,546 | 5.5 | 7.4 |
| Automotive products | 5,076 | 6,791 | 7,338 | 7,470 | 7,830 | 4.8 | 54.3 |
| Motor vehicles | 3,462 | 5,263 | 5,808 | 5,993 | 6,357 | 6.1 | 83.6 |
| Motor vehicle parts and accessories | 1,613 | 1,528 | 1,530 | 1,477 | 1,473 | -0.3 | -8.7 |
| Building materials | 5,777 | 5,525 | 5,632 | 5,733 | 5,973 | 4.2 | 3.4 |
| Building supplies | 3,623 | 3,670 | 3,775 | 3,795 | 3,947 | 4.0 | 9.0 |
| Metal products | 1,441 | 1,131 | 1,114 | 1,148 | 1,232 | 7.3 | -14.5 |
| Lumber and millwork | 714 | 725 | 743 | 791 | 794 | 0.5 | 11.3 |
| Machinery and electronic equipment | 9,331 | 8,715 | 8,698 | 8,870 | 9,098 | 2.6 | -2.5 |
| Machinery and equipment | 4,770 | 4,045 | 3,931 | 4,047 | 4,305 | 6.4 | -9.8 |
| Computer and other electronic equipment | 2,455 | 2,612 | 2,697 | 2,731 | 2,730 | 0.0 | 11.2 |
| Office and professional equipment | 2,105 | 2,057 | 2,070 | 2,092 | 2,063 | -1.4 | -2.0 |
| Other products | 5,469 | 5,048 | 5,222 | 5,295 | 5,513 | 4.1 | 0.8 |
| Total, excluding automobiles | 36,039 | 34,708 | 35,339 | 35,583 | 36,534 | 2.7 | 1.4 |
| Sales, province and territory | |||||||
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 280 | 294 | 309 | 314 | 322 | 2.4 | 15.0 |
| Prince Edward Island | 39 | 38 | 38 | 37 | 39 | 6.6 | 1.1 |
| Nova Scotia | 573 | 595 | 590 | 624 | 620 | -0.7 | 8.2 |
| New Brunswick | 444 | 466 | 461 | 465 | 483 | 3.7 | 8.8 |
| Quebec | 8,054 | 7,934 | 8,052 | 8,174 | 8,374 | 2.4 | 4.0 |
| Ontario | 19,263 | 21,100 | 21,916 | 21,755 | 22,269 | 2.4 | 15.6 |
| Manitoba | 1,125 | 1,050 | 1,126 | 1,121 | 1,126 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| Saskatchewan | 1,681 | 1,212 | 1,291 | 1,330 | 1,575 | 18.4 | -6.3 |
| Alberta | 5,494 | 4,700 | 4,729 | 4,940 | 5,085 | 2.9 | -7.4 |
| British Columbia | 4,088 | 4,051 | 4,101 | 4,218 | 4,388 | 4.0 | 7.3 |
| Yukon | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 16.7 | 7.4 |
| Northwest Territories | 57 | 42 | 50 | 59 | 66 | 11.7 | 15.2 |
| Nunavut | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 24.6 | -9.6 |
