Statistics Canada has just released the January figures on wholesale activity across Canada.
Perhaps the most notable item in the report is that inventories in warehouses and factories of companies in the wholesale sector are finally starting to decline.
They had been rising for months as manufacturers and suppliers accumulated partially-completed products while they waited for components to finish the job. It would appear the backlogs are now starting to recede after inventories hit a record high in December after climbing for all of last year.
One segment that contributed to increases across country was lumber and building materials. Both the volume of transactions and the price of these products were rising in January so the dollar value of these items rose by nearly 15 per cent for the month. We’re seeing that here in Saskatchewan as the lumber and forestry sector continues to expand.
Overall, sales numbers for wholesalers were up across the country and Saskatchewan continues to post the strongest dollar-value gains – increasing 35 per cent last year.
