Wholesalers sold $54.8 billion worth of goods and services in April, up 0.1% from March but 0.2% lower than in April 2015. Excluding the automotive sector, wholesale sales were also down 0.2% from April 2015.
In terms of volume, wholesale sales were up 0.2% in April from March.
Annualized wholesale sales were up in four provinces. British Columbia (+5.8%) led the way, followed by New Brunswick (+5.5%). Ontario’s annualized gain was 2.6% while Quebec reported a 1.2% year-over-year increase. Saskatchewan experienced the largest loss (-16.0%), followed by Alberta (-11.4%).
Wholesalers’ inventories in April decreased 0.3% from March to $72.2 billion. This was fourth straight monthly decline. The value of inventories were up 1.9% from April 2015. Month-over-month increases were recorded in three of the seven sectors, representing 24.0% of total wholesale inventories, with the farm products sector accounting for most of the increase (+4.4%). The monthly decrease for the building materials and supplies industry was 0.6%, its fifth decline in the last eleven months. The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.32 in April, unchanged from March. The ratio is a measure of the time in months required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Wholesale sales of building materials and supplies were $7.3 billion in April, down 2.0% from March and 3.4% lower than in April 2015. Inventories were valued at $11.9 billion, down 0.6% from March and 7.5% lower than in April 2015.
Wholesale sales of electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning equipment and supplies stood at $2.3 billion in April, down 1.2% from March and 5.1% lower than in April 2015. Inventories were valued at $3.3 billion, down 1.0% from March and 3.6% lower than in April 2015.
Wholesale sales of metal service centres were $1.2 billion in April, down 3.0% from March and a decrease of 15.3% from April 2014. Inventories were valued at $3.0 billion, down 0.7% from March and a 19.7% decrease from April 2015.
Wholesale sales of lumber, millwork, hardware and other building supplies were $3.7 billion in April, down 2.1% from March and a 2.5% increase from April 2015. Inventories were valued at $5.6 billion, down 0.2*% from March and a 1.7% decrease over April 2015.