After contracting three times since February, things got better for Alberta’s wholesalers in June, with seasonally adjusted sales 7.2 per cent higher than the month before.

Year-over-year sales, however, were down by 5.9 per cent in June and total sales over the first half of the year were $2.6 billion lower than over the first half of 2019 (-6.2 per cent).

The national wholesale sector has experienced more extreme ups and downs during the pandemic than Alberta’s, but has ended up in roughly the same spot with sales down by 6.4 per cent over the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.

Monthly sales in Alberta improved in June in six of the seven main subsectors. Only wholesalers of building material and supplies saw their sales drop in June.

Year-to-date sales, on the other hand, were down in six of the seven main subsectors. As of June, only food, beverage and tobacco wholesalers were ahead of where they were six months into 2019.

Although it is only one month of data, and while it’s unlikely that all of the ground lost during the early part of the pandemic will be recovered by the end of the year, it’s still a good sign that wholesale trade increased in June. If the rally continues over the second half of the year, this will go a long way toward healing the economic wound inflicted by the pandemic.