Wholesale Trade Canada in Canada

Measures the value of sales by Canadian wholesalers, firms that buy goods to resell to retailers or other businesses without selling directly to the final consumer. It is a leading gauge of trade activity and of inventories along the distribution chain, and feeds into monthly GDP by industry.

Statistics Canada surveys a sample of wholesale establishments each month (the Wholesale Trade Survey) on their sales value, seasonally adjusted. The headline aggregate excludes petroleum and petroleum products and the oilseed and grain subsector, the most volatile components; StatCan also publishes the total including them.

It anticipates the path of wholesale trade and, indirectly, of consumption and industrial output. A sustained pick-up points to firm domestic demand, while a drop can foreshadow inventory adjustments or weakness in manufacturing and imports.

The series is volatile month to month despite seasonal adjustment and is revised as the survey sample fills in. The headline aggregate excludes petroleum and oilseed/grain, so it does not capture the whole of wholesale trade.