By Robb M. Stewart
OTTAWA--Canadian wholesale trade increased modestly in October, building on recent strength for the sector thanks to a rise in sales of vehicles and parts.
Wholesale sales ticked up 0.1% from the month before to a seasonally adjusted 86.03 billion Canadian dollars, the equivalent of $62.47 billion, Statistics Canada said Friday. The figure was stronger than the data agency's advance estimate for 0.1% dip and builds on a 0.6% rise in sales in September that pushed the value of wholesale trade for the third quarter to the highest on record.
Still, in price-adjusted terms, sales fell 0.7% in October, an indication the volume of sales declined.
Compared with a year earlier, nominal wholesale sales were up 2.6%, while transactions on a volume basis were unchanged, the data agency said.
Wholesalers--the largest component of Canada's services sector--connect farmers or manufacturers that produce goods with companies and public institutions that use them. They also import goods from other countries and redistribute them within Canada. Statistics Canada previously estimated retail sales were essentially flat month-over-month in October, following a decline of 0.7% a month earlier.
Four of the seven wholesale sectors tracked by the agency recorded increased sales in the latest month, accounting for just under half of total sales.
Trade in motor vehicles and parts rose 2.3% in October to C$14.70 billion, largely thanks to a rise in wholesale sales of passenger vehicles manufactured abroad, as well as high sales of buses and transport trucks.
Stripping out the autos segment, sales for the month were down 0.4%, though up 3.4% from October last year.
While sales of farm products was up strongly, trade by miscellaneous wholesalers was down in October. Sales of agricultural products and minerals, ore and precious metals also dropped.
The value of wholesale inventories was steady for the month at C$135.39 billion, though up 7.0% on last year.
Including sales by petroleum, oilseed and grain merchants--the headline measure Statistics Canada is transitioning to--wholesale sales for October were 0.2% higher at C$117.79 billion. Inventories on the same basis increased 0.5% from the prior month to C$147.9 billion.
Canada's economy has been hit hard by the Trump administration's tariffs and the uncertainty they have brought for businesses, though activity picked up strongly in the third quarter thanks to a recovery in net trade and increased defense spending countered weak domestic demand, and despite weakness in domestic demand.
The fourth quarter was off to a sluggish start, with industry-level gross domestic product falling an estimated 0.3% in October on the month before, which would mark the sharpest contraction since December 2022.
The Bank of Canada, which this week left its policy interest rate unchanged following back-to-back cuts, continues to project weak economic growth in the final quarter of the year and a soft 1.1% annualized expansion in 2026.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-12-25 0943ET
