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July 17, 2023WHOLESALE TRADE, MAY 2023 NOTE
Starting with the March 2023 reference month, petroleum products data will be available within Statistics Canada's data tables. This distorts year-over-year and year-to-date comparisons. The effect causes data for oil-producing regions to increase more rapidly than in other provinces, distorting the graphic. The colour bars for Alberta and Manitoba are truncated and displayed in gray vs the normal green.
Monthly (seasonally adjusted, May 2023 vs April 2023)
Nova Scotia wholesale trade decreased 0.8% to $1.22 billion. National wholesale trade increased 0.4% to $128.07 billion in May. Seven provinces reported an increase. Manitoba reported the largest increase while Alberta reported the largest decrease.
Year-over-year (seasonally adjusted, May 2023 vs May 2022)
Nova Scotia wholesale trade increased 3.3%. Canada's wholesale trade increased 59.1% with the recent inclusion of petroleum, oil seeds and grains in the data series. All ten provinces reported year over year increases in wholesale trade. The prairie provinces reported the largest gains while Nova Scotia reported the smallest gains.
Year-to-date (January-May 2023 vs January-May 2022)
Nova Scotia wholesale trade increased 5.3%. Canada's wholesale trade increased 37.5% (including petroleum, oil seeds and grains). All provinces reported year to date increases. The prairie provinces reported the largest year-to-date gains in wholesale trade, and Prince Edward Island reported the smallest increase.
The largest dollar contributions to Nova Scotia's to wholesale trade came from food and beverage wholesalers as well as building materials wholesalers.
The largest percentage contributions to Nova Scotia's to wholesale trade growth came from motor vehicle and parts wholesalers, and machinery/equipment wholesalers. Miscellaneous wholesalers, building material wholesalers and food/beverage wholesalers reported year-to-date declines over the same period last year.
TRENDS
Over the past year, there has been high volatility in Nova Scotia's wholesale trade with several large declines and recoveries. Canada reported a very large increase as the data series was changed to include petroleum products in the last three months.
National wholesale inventories increased $37.77 billion from April to May. The national ratio of inventories to sales rose to 1.48 in May 2023.
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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