Statistics
Canada announced on Friday that wholesale sales (excluding petroleum and
oilseed and grain) increased 0.1 per cent m-o-m to CAD82.41 billion in January 2024, following a downwardly revised 0.3 per cent m-o-m fall
(from +0.3 per cent m-o-m) in December 2023.
Economists had foreseen
a 0.6 per cent m-o-m decline for January.
According to
the report, sales rose in three of the seven subsectors, including Personal and household goods (+1.8 per cent m-o-m), Machinery,
equipment and supplies (+1.4 per cent m-o-m), and Miscellaneous (+0.9 per cent
m-o-m). Meanwhile, Farm product, excluding oilseed and grain (-3.5 per cent
m-o-m), and Building material and supplies (-2.9 per cent m-o-m) demonstrated the
largest decreases in wholesale sales in January.
In y-o-y terms,
wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other
hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) fell 2.0 per cent in January.