indicatorThe Twenty-Four

Wholesale activity up again in May

Year-to-date sales in Alberta are 22.4% higher than last year

By Siddhartha Bhattacharya, ATB Economics 19 July 2022 1 min read

Revenue for wholesale traders in Alberta ticked up for the third consecutive month as seasonally adjusted sales grew $111 million (+1.3%) in May.

Sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers (+16.8%) rebounded sharply after a short-lived decline in April and reached a new peak in the month. This, and a 3.2% uptick in machinery and equipment sales, managed to offset monthly pullbacks in the building material and supplies and miscellaneous categories.

In unadjusted terms, revenue climbed $7.8 billion (+22.4%) higher through May compared to the same period in 2021 and stood second in line in the country after Ontario (in dollar terms).

Nationally, wholesale revenue reached a new peak as it inched up by $1.3 billion (+1.6%) on a monthly basis in May and was $48.3 billion (+14.0%) higher on an unadjusted year-to-date basis.

Higher prices helped drive the large increases. Over the first five months of 2022, wholesale prices in Canada jumped 11.2% from the same period in 2021.

Answer to the previous trivia question: As of July 1, 2022, Nova Scotia had a population of 992,055 compared to 789,225 in New Brunswick.

Today’s trivia question: What is the diameter of the James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror?

Wholesale revenue in Alberta rose for the third straight month in May

Wholesale revenue in Alberta rose for the third straight month in May


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