By Kim Mackrael
OTTAWA--Canadian wholesale transactions rose for a sixth straight month in October, adding to evidence the sector had largely stabilized before the country entered a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic this fall.
Wholesale sales advanced 1.0% on a seasonally adjusted basis in October from the previous month to 66.72 billion Canadian dollars (US$52.44 billion) Statistics Canada said Wednesday. Market expectations weren't immediately available.
Wholesale sales in the previous month rose a revised 0.6%, lower than the 0.9% increase the data agency had initially reported.
In volume, or price-adjusted terms, sales rose 1.0% in October.
The rise in the value of wholesale sales in October was driven by advances in the machinery, automotive, and building materials subsectors.
On a 12-month basis, wholesale trade in Canada increased by 5.2%.
Statistics Canada said wholesale trade was, by many measures, stronger in October than it was in February, before Covid-19 restrictions closed many parts of the Canadian economy. October sales were 3.3% higher than they were before the pandemic, the data agency said.
Wholesale trade is the largest component of Canada's services sector. Wholesalers 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.
Write to Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-16-20 0909ET
