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December 12, 2025WHOLESALE TRADE, OCTOBER 2025 The wholesale trade data reported below now excludes petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons as well as oilseed and grain.
Monthly (seasonally adjusted, October 2025 vs September 2025)
Nova Scotia wholesale trade declined 1.5% to $1.298 billion. National wholesale trade increased 0.1% to $86.0 billion. Five provinces reported increases in October with Manitoba and Saskatchewan reporting the fastest gains, while New Brunswick and Québec reported the steepest declines.
Year-over-year (seasonally adjusted, October 2025 vs October 2024)
Nova Scotia wholesale trade grew 6.6% in October when compared with the same month last year. Canada's wholesale trade grew 2.6%, year-over-year. Nine provinces reported year-over-year increases in wholesale trade led by Saskatchewan, with New Brunswick reporting the only decline.
Year-to-date (January-October 2025 vs January-October 2024)
Nova Scotia wholesale trade increased 6.3% in the first ten months of 2025 compared to the same period of 2024. Canada's wholesale trade increased 3.2%. All provinces reported year-to-date increases in wholesale trade. Newfoundland and Labrador reported the fastest gain while Saskatchewan reported the slowest.
Food and beverage wholesale represents the largest share of Nova Scotia's reported wholesale trade categories, followed by building materials, motor vehicles and parts, and machinery and equipment.
Motor vehicles and parts saw the largest percentage increase in year-to-date wholesale trade, while miscellaneous wholesalers were down.
Trends
National wholesale trade (excluding petroleum products and oilseed and grains) was relatively stable from 2023 to mid-2024, and has been trending upward since then. Nova Scotia wholesale trade follows a similar upward trend as national wholesale trade, with more volatility from month to month, and has outpaced the national trend since early 2024.
Wholesale inventories as a share of sales have increased in 2025, growing to a value of 1.57 in October 2025.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 20-10-0074-01 Wholesale trade, sales (x 1,000); Table 20-10-0076-01 Wholesale trade, inventories (x 1,000)
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