June wholesale sales slide after strong May

Wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) fell 2.8% to $80.5 billion in June, following an increase in May – which was the largest since June 2020, says Statistics Canada. A decline in sales was reported in the majority of the subsectors.  

Despite most of the industry groups reporting a decline of monthly sales in June 2023, it was predominantly the other machinery, equipment, and supplies industry group (-8.9% to $4.2 billion) and the construction, forestry, mining, and industrial machinery, equipment, and supplies industry group (-6% to $5.9 billion) that drove the downward movement.  

The building material and supplies subsector had sales of $12.9 billion in June, down 10.2% year over year. Electrical, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning equipment and supplies sales were up 2.9% year over year; metal service centres sales were down 18.9%; and lumber, millwork, hardware, and other building supplies sales were down 14%.   

Sales decreased in most provinces in June, led by lower sales in Alberta, followed by Saskatchewan and Ontario. 

Wholesale inventories (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) fell 1.2% to $127.7 billion in June, the third decline of 2023. Inventories in the building material and supplies subsector fell 2.0% to $23.3 billion.