Canadian wholesale trade fell by 0.9% in December 2012 when compared with the previous month, according to Statistics Canada data released yesterday.
This decrease was driven in large part by a drop of 4.1% in sales of machinery, equipment and supplies from $11 billion in November to $10.6 billion in December.
The drop was partially offset by an increase of 1.4% in building materials and supplies.
Changes in other subsectors included:
- the food, beverage and tobacco sector remaining steady with zero change;
- personal and household goods rising by 0.7%;
- motor vehicles and parts decreasing by 0.3%; and
- wholesale sales in the “Miscellaneous” category dropping by 0.6%.
Wholesale sales in British Columbia increased by 0.8% in the same period.
