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For additional information relating to this article, please contact:

Thomas Storring	Director – Economics and Statistics
Tel: 902-424-2410	Email: thomas.storring@novascotia.ca

December 16, 2020
WHOLESALE TRADE, OCTOBER 2020

 MONTH-OVER-MONTH (seasonally adjusted, October 2020 vs September 2020)

• Nova Scotia Wholesale Trade increased 1.3% to $933.3 million
• Canada Wholesale Trade increased 1.0% to $66.7 billion
• Seven provinces reported monthly increases in wholesale trade, with Saskatchewan (+6.7%) reporting the largest gain while Prince Edward Island (-5.2%) reported the largest decline. 

                                                                                                                               

YEAR-OVER-YEAR (seasonally adjusted, October 2020 vs October 2019)

• Nova Scotia Wholesale Trade increased 15.5%
• Canada Wholesale Trade increased 5.2%
• Across Canada, 8 of 10 provinces reported higher wholesale trade in October 2020 than in the same month a year ago.  Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and British Columbia reported the largest increases while only Alberta and Prince Edward Island reported declines.

YEAR-TO-DATE (seasonally adjusted, Jan-Oct 2020 vs Jan-Oct 2019)

• Nova Scotia Wholesale Trade decreased 1.7% 
• Canada Wholesale Trade decreased 2.5%
• Year-to-date wholeale trade is down for most provinces.  Three provinces reported year to date increases in wholesale trade: Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Manitoba.  The largest year-to-date declines in wholesale trade were reported in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta. 

SECTOR (seasonally adjusted, Jan-Oct 2020 vs Jan-Oct 2019)

• Total wholesale trade decreased 1.7% (-$152.6 million)
• Food, beverage decreased 2.9% (-$88.6 million) .
• Motor vehicle and parts decreased 9.1% (-$143.5 million) .
• Building material increased 2.7% (+$46.9 million) .
• Machinery, equipment decreased 0.8% (-$11.8 million) .
• Miscellaneous wholesalers increased 12.7% (+$77.7 million) .
• Other wholesalers decreased 6.6% (-$33.2 million) .

TRENDS

 Nova Scotia's wholesale trade is often volatile from one month to the next. Nova Scotia's wholesale trade has returned to its previous growth trend after the sharp decline brought about by the pandemic of early 2020. A similar pattern has been observed in Canada's wholesale trade, albeit with greater stability from one month to the next.  

Wholesale trade in October was higher than the Feburary pre-pandemic benchmark for all provinces except one.  Alberta's wholesale trade had returned to Feb20 levels as of July, but it has declined since then.  

 

NATIONAL WHOLESALE INVENTORIES (October 2020 vs September 2020)

Wholesale inventories decreased by 0.6% to $90.1 billion in October 2020.

Inventories declined for farm products, motor vehicles/parts and machinery/equipment wholesalers.  Wholesale inventories increased for food/beverage and personal care sectors.

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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