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From Paul Vieira
OTTAWA – Canadian wholesale transactions declined for the second consecutive month in July and saw the largest decline in over a year due to lower timber prices.
Wholesale sales in July fell by a seasonally adjusted 2.1% to 70.57 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of 55.87 billion dollars, Statistics Canada said on Thursday. According to economists at Desjardins Securities, market expectations fell 2%.
Adjusted for volume and price, sales fell by 2.4%.
Wholesalers – the largest component of Canada’s service sector – connect farmers or manufacturers who make goods with businesses and public institutions who use them. They also import goods from other countries and distribute them within Canada.
Sales of building materials and supplies that include forest products such as lumber declined 12.4% for the month to $ 11.03 billion. On an annual basis, sales in this sector increased by 22.4%. Wholesale transactions excluding this component rose 0.1% in July, according to Statistics Canada.
Meanwhile, wholesale inventories rose 0.6% to $ 95.70 billion, which was a record level, according to the data agency.
Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com
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