There are signs the supply chain is beginning to find its footing in Saskatchewan.
Tracking the performance of businesses in the wholesale sector provides a bit of insight into how things will look in a month or two as those goods hit the retail leg of their commercial journey. Basically, wholesale activity today is retail tomorrow.
We’ve been watching this one closely in hopes of getting some clues about when supply chain interruptions are going to be sorted out and return to a more normal pattern. The February figures suggest at least some product lines are again finding their footing.
In Saskatchewan, the wholesale sector generated $3.5 billion in February. That is a record and is roughly five per cent higher than January. That gain was the strongest in the country as most provinces were posting declines as border blockades interrupted product flows.
That improvement in Saskatchewan was quite a standout. Not only was it a record for the month but compared the previous year, revenues for this segment of the economy had risen by 40 per cent, which is almost three times the national pace.
