Wholesalers sold $41.0 billion worth of goods and services in August, down 1.4% from July and 10.1% lower than August 2008.  Excluding the automotive sector, wholesale sales were down 10.9% from August 2008.       

August's sales decrease followed two consecutive monthly gains which had been preceded by eight straight monthly declines that had taken sales to their lowest level since December 2005.  In terms of the volume of sales, wholesale sales fell 0.8% in August from July, after the four monthly advance in a row.  Losses in the automotive, the machinery and electronic equipment and the building materials sectors accounted for close to 90% of the total decline.    

Annualized wholesale sales were down in all provinces and territories except Newfoundland and Labrador (+1.8%).   In Ontario, they dropped 5.2% while in Quebec they fell 8.8%.  Saskatchewan registered the largest year-over-year decrease (-34.1%) in August, while Alberta recorded a 23.0% loss.  

Wholesalers' inventories fell for a sixth straight month in August (-1.1%) over July to $55.5 billion, and were down 2.3% from August 2008.  The inventory-to-sales ratio remained unchanged in August over July at 1.35.  This followed four consecutive monthly decreases.  The average inventory-to-sales ratio for 2008 was 1.27.                                                                                                                                                

In this report the "building materials" total is comprised of wholesale sales of (a) building supplies, (b) metal products and (c) lumber and millwork.  

Wholesale sales of building materials were $5.4 billion in  August, down 1.8% from July, and an 18.2% loss from August 2008, continuing a trend that began in the fall of 2008.      

Wholesale sales of building supplies stood at $3.6 billion in August, down 1.7% from July and a 7.7% drop from August 2008.  The building supply group makes up some 60% of sales in the building materials sector.  Inventories were valued at $6.1 billion, down 1.2% from July and 0.2% lower than in August 2008.  The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.68 in August, up from 1.67 in July.    

Wholesale sales of metal products were $1.03 billion in August, down 4.3% from July and a decrease of 41.3% from August 2008.  Inventories were valued at $2.6 billion, down 4.2.% from July and a 15.1% drop from August 2008.  The inventory-to-sales ratio was 2.54 in August, up from 2.53 in July.  

Wholesale sales of lumber and millwork were $734 million in August, up 1.8% from July, but a 19.1% decrease from August 2008.  Inventories were valued at $908 million, a 1.0% decrease from July and down 20.8% over August 2008.  The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.24 in August, down from 1.27 in July.