Wholesale Sales Declined Again

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By Elli Davis, July 31, 2010

Photo by Hidde de Vries

Wholesale sales in Canada surprisingly fell again in May, for the second month in a row. Overall sales only declined by 0.1 percent, to $44.1 billion, Statistics Canada announced earlier this week. The most significant factor influencing the decline was agricultural supplies, which declined by as much as 30 percent.

Bad weather in Western Canada and thus low demand for fertilizers and seed caused the sharp decline, Statistics Canada stated, not omitting the fact that due to flooding, the sales’ results to be released in August may continue on a decreasing trend. That is in spite of the fact that sales in the rest of categories will be rising and were rising in May, too. For instance, sales of machinery and equipment went up by 1.9 percent, and food, beverage and tobacco sales increased by 1.3 percent.

Here you can see how weather might influence the overall situation. These results are unexpected, actually. The fall is not really big, that’s true, but I expected a slight increase. In future we will have to consider the weather.