Another piece of the economic recovery puzzle has fallen into place with monthly wholesale trade in Alberta growing by 2.1 per cent in July over June. This was the second monthly increase in a row after declines in March, April and May.

Sales were, however, still down by 1.8 per cent compared to a year earlier. (Sales figures have been adjusted to account for seasonal variation.)

The year-to-date total was also down with the losses in the spring shaving off $2.7 billion in sales (-5.6 per cent) compared to the total for the first seven months of 2019.

A burst of sales in the motor vehicle and parts sub-sector in July (+27.6 per cent) compensated for reduced sales among miscellaneous wholesalers (-4.8 per cent), machinery and equipment wholesalers (-1.7 per cent), and food, beverage and tobacco wholesalers (-0.7 per cent).

Nationally, wholesale trade improved by 4.3 per cent in July with year-to-date sales down by $23.7 billion (-5.3 per cent).