Canadian wholesalers boosted sales in July, partly recovering from the biggest decline in receipts in more than four years a month earlier.
Wholesale sales rose 1.5% to $49.5 billion, after a revised 3.1% decline in June that was the fastest since January 2009, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The median estimate in a survey of economists was for a 1.2% gain.
Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said in a speech in Vancouver yesterday that growing confidence about global demand is bringing about a "tipping point" where business investment takes over from "tired" consumers in driving output growth. The investment should boost Canada’s potential growth rate, allowing the world’s 11th largest economy to expand more without sparking inflation.
July’s advance was led by sellers of machinery and equipment, who recorded a 3.2% gain, and a 4.3% increase by building material wholesalers. Four of the seven sub-groups, representing almost 70% of total sales, recorded gains, the statistics agency said.
The volume of wholesale sales, which removes the impact of price changes, rose 1.4%.
Inventories increased 0.1% to $62.3 billion in July, lowering the ratio of inventories to sales to 1.26 from a four-year high of 1.28 in June.
Wholesale sales were 0.6% higher in July than the same month a year earlier.
