Wholesale Trade, September 2015, published November 19

Posted by on Nov 24, 2015 in Featured | Comments Off on Wholesale Trade, September 2015, published November 19

Wholesalers sold $55.2 billion worth of goods and services in September, down 0.1% from August but 1.4% higher than in September 2014.  Excluding the automotive sector, wholesale sales were up 0.5% from September 2014.      

In terms of volume, wholesale sales were down 0.4% in September from Auguat.

Annualized wholesale sales grew in seven provinces.  Prince Edward Island (+9.9%) led the way, followed by Nova Scotia (+6.6%) and Manitoba (+5.6%).  Quebec’s wholesale sales were up 1.2% from September 2014 while Ontario recorded a 3.8% annualized gain.  Alberta (-9.8%) and Newfoundland and Labrador (-8.6%) experienced the largest losses.

Wholesalers’ inventories in September decreased 0.4% from August to $73.0 billion, their first monthly loss after 11 straight month-over-month gains. They were up 7.5% from  September 2014.  Decreases were recorded in four of the seven sectors, representing 64.0% of wholesale inventories.  The largest monthly decrease, in dollar terms, was accounted for by the machinery, equipment and supplies sector (-1.5%).  The monthly decrease for the building materials and supplies industry was 1.1% and was the sixth consecutive monthly decline for the sector.  The last time this sector posted as many consecutive monthly decreases was in 2009, when inventories dropped for 10 consecutive months.  The inventory-to-sales ratio was 1.32 in September, unchanged from August. 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 $7.5 billion in September, down 2.1% from August and 7.1% lower than in September 2014.  Inventories were valued at $12.2 billion, down 1.1% from August but 1.4% higher than in September 2014.

Wholesale sales of electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning equipment and supplies stood at $2.3 billion in September, up 0.1% from August but 14.9% lower than in September 2014.  Inventories were valued at $3.3 billion, down 1.4% from August but 4.4% higher than in September 2014.

Wholesale sales of metal service centres were $1.4 billion in September, down 3.7% from August and a decrease of 17.2% from September 2014.  Inventories were valued at $3.4 billion, down 1.7% from August and an 8.6% decrease from September 2014.

Wholesale sales of lumber, millwork, hardware and other building supplies were $3.8 billion in September, down 2.9% from August but a 3.6% increase from September 2014. Inventories were valued at $5.6 billion, down 0.5% from August but a 6.7% increase over September 2014.