Last week, Statistics Canada released information on wholesale trade in the country for October 2021.
Wholesale trade includes goods that are generally unfinished, and which are usually sold to retailers, businesses, and institutions. Some examples of wholesale products include farm products, building materials, and machinery.
Overall, Canada saw wholesale sales increase in October by 1.4% from September’s numbers. Compared to the previous October, wholesale trade was up 8.4%, which shouldn’t be that surprising since the economy was still suffering from pandemic restrictions this time last year.
Leading the growth was “textiles, clothing, and footwear”, which saw an increase of 17.6% over the previous month. Here are the 5 industries that saw the highest growth in wholesale trade between September and October 2021:
| Sep 2021 | Oct 2021 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Textile, clothing and footwear | $1.241 | $1.460 | 17.6% |
| Motor vehicle | $7.656 | $8.310 | 8.5% |
| Agricultural supplies | $3.233 | $3.443 | 6.5% |
| Toiletries, cosmetics and sundries | $1.064 | $1.126 | 5.8% |
| Farm product | $1.023 | $1.060 | 3.6% |
The industry with the largest decrease in wholesale sales was “used motor vehicle parts and accessories”, which declined by 16.7% between September and October. Here are the 5 industries that saw the largest decreases during that period:
| Sep 2021 | Oct 2021 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Used motor vehicle parts & access. | $0.082 | $0.068 | -16.7% |
| Cannabis | $0.194 | $0.166 | -14.6% |
| Home furnishings | $0.686 | $0.648 | -5.5% |
| Chemical (except ag) & allied | $1.816 | $1.731 | -4.7% |
| Pharmaceuticals & pharmacy suppl. | $5.620 | $5.428 | -3.4% |
The industry with the highest volume of wholesale sales in October 2021 was “food”: $11.586 billion worth. Here are the 5 industries with the largest volumes in sales:
| Oct 2021 sales | % of total | |
|---|---|---|
| Food | $11.586 | 15.98% |
| Motor vehicle | $8.310 | 11.46% |
| Lumber, millwork, hardware, building supplies | $5.844 | 8.06% |
| Pharmaceuticals & pharmacy suppl. | $5.428 | 7.49% |
| Construction, forestry, etc, equipment & supp. | $4.756 | 6.56% |
As far as the provinces go, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were leading the pack in growth, with 6.8% and 6.7% more in wholesale sales this past October than they were seeing the previous month.
At the bottom of the list were PEI (-10.3%) and Nova Scotia (-7.7%).
Alberta saw a 1% decrease in wholesale trade in October, the fourth worst performance among all provinces.
| Sep 2021 | Oct 2021 | % change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| SK | $2.702 | $2.886 | 6.8% |
| MB | $1.591 | $1.698 | 6.7% |
| NL | $0.379 | $0.394 | 4.0% |
| BC | $7.118 | $7.295 | 2.5% |
| ON | $36.489 | $37.249 | 2.1% |
| QC | $13.821 | $13.796 | -0.2% |
| AB | $7.291 | $7.221 | -1.0% |
| NB | $0.765 | $0.738 | -3.6% |
| NS | $1.123 | $1.037 | -7.7% |
| PEI | $0.132 | $0.118 | -10.3% |
Alberta had the fourth largest volume in wholesale sales in the country during October, which isn’t that surprising, given that it has the fourth largest population. However, in September, it had the third largest sales volume in the country.
In October, Alberta’s wholesale sales volumes accounted for 9.96% of the country’s wholesale sales. The month before, 10.20% of Canada’s wholesale sales occurred in Alberta.
