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?