At $10.0 billion, Alberta’s seasonally-adjusted wholesale sector revenues in February stood mostly unchanged from the peak reached in January. Meanwhile, they declined in seven other provinces.

February’s strong showing came mainly on the heels of higher machinery, equipment and supplies sales which offset a pullback in the revenues of food, beverage and tobacco goods.

Compared to 2022, however, revenues remained quite favourable. On a year-to-date basis, wholesale sales were up by $3.4 billion (+22.9%) in Alberta, second highest (in dollar terms) among the provinces after Ontario.

Nationally, revenues edged down by $1.5 billion (-1.7%) in February with the central provinces responsible for over half the monthly weakness.

We expect such indicators of business activity to moderate from the fast pace set in 2022 against the backdrop of higher interest rates and a softer global outlook in future months.

Answer to the previous trivia question: A total 181,966 new motor vehicles were sold in Alberta last year or about 12% of the national total of 1,558,237.

Today’s trivia question: Costco Wholesale has the word “wholesale” in its name but is actually classified as a retail business. How many locations does Costco have in Canada?