Wholesalers sold $56.4 billion worth of goods and services in June, up 0.7% from May and 3.2% higher than in June 2015. Excluding the automotive sector, wholesale sales were up 1.9% from June 2015.
In terms of volume, wholesale sales were up 0.6% in June from May.
Annualized wholesale sales were up in six provinces. British Columbia (+9.6%) led the way, followed by Ontario (+5.9%). Quebec’s annualized gain was 3.8%. Newfoundland and Labrador experienced the largest loss (-11.1%), followed by Saskatchewan (-10.1%).
Wholesalers’ inventories in June decreased 0.1% from May to $72.0 billion. This was the sixth monthly decline in the past eight months. The value of inventories was up 0.5% from June 2015. Month-over-month decreases were recorded in five of the seven sectors, representing 76.0% of total wholesale inventories. The monthly decrease for the building materials and supplies industry was 0.1%, its fifth decline in the last six months. The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.28 in June, down from 1.29 in May. 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 $7.6 billion in June, up 1.8% from May and 0.1% higher than in June 2015. Inventories were valued at $11.8 billion, down 0.1% from May and 6.9% lower than in June 2015.
Wholesale sales of electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning equipment and supplies stood at $2.4 billion in June, up 1.1% from May but 0.7% lower than in June 2015. Inventories were valued at $3.3 billion, up 0.7% from May but 3.7% lower than in June 2015.
Wholesale sales of metal service centres were $1.3 billion in June, up 0.9% from May but a decrease of 11.2% from June 2015. Inventories were valued at $2.9 billion, down 0.6% from May and a 19.2% decrease from June 2015.
Wholesale sales of lumber, millwork, hardware and other building supplies were $3.9 billion in June, up 2.6% from May and a 5.1% increase from June 2015. Inventories were valued at $5.6 billion, down 0.3% from May and a 0.8% decrease over June 2015.