June 18, 2026
Canadian wholesale sales rose 0.6 percent in April
Statistics Canada announced that Canadian wholesale sales (excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain) rose 0.6% to $89.3 billion in April.
The Federal agency says sales increased in five of the seven subsectors, representing about 60% of total wholesale sales. The largest increases came from the building material and supplies subsector (+4.3% to $12.7 billion) and the mineral, ore and precious metal industry group (+15.7% to $1.0 billion). Wholesale sales were 6.3% higher in April compared with the same month one year earlier.
Five provinces recorded higher sales, led by Ontario and British Columbia.
Ontario posted the largest increase in sales, rising 0.7% to $46.5 billion in April. Higher sales in the non-agricultural chemical product and recyclable material industry groups generated the gain. These gains led the growth in the miscellaneous subsector, which rose 5.6% overall to $5.4 billion.
British Columbia posted the second-largest increase in provincial wholesale sales in April, rising 2.5% to $8.4 billion. Sales increased in five of the seven subsectors, with the building material and supplies subsector (+3.9% to $2.0 billion) reporting the largest increase.
Partially offsetting the growth in April was a decline in sales in Alberta (-0.9% to $9.5 billion), which reflects a 4.3% drop in sales of machinery, equipment and supplies. In addition, sales in Saskatchewan fell 2.1% to $4.0 billion in April.