Ottawa: After starting the year on a positive note, Statistics Canada reports wholesale sales reversed course in February as declines in a number of sectors erased all of January's gains.
Sales by Canadian wholesalers fell 1.8% in February to $42.6 billion.
Most sectors reported lower sales during the month, with the largest decline (-4%) coming in the automotive sector.
Ontario bore almost the entire brunt of the decline in February as sales in the province dropped 4.9% to $20.7 billion, its lowest level since October 2006.
Notable drops were seen in the "other products" sector (-3.4%), which includes wholesalers of agricultural chemicals, recycled materials, paper products and non-agricultural products, as well as the personal and household goods (-2.4%) and building materials (-2.2%) sectors.
Two bright spots were the food, beverage and tobacco products sector (+0.7%), which was buoyed by a turnaround in alcohol and tobacco sales, and the farm products sector (+4.3%), which recovered from a weak start to the year.
Wholesale sales have been trending gradually downwards since July 2007, largely as a result of a significant decline in the automotive sector.
When measured in constant dollars, which removes price change effects to provide an indicator of volume, sales were 2% lower in February compared with a month earlier.
Sales of automotive products fell 4% in February to $7.1 billion, their lowest level since July 2005.
Motor vehicles dropped 4.8% and motor vehicle parts and accessories were down 1.1%, marking the third consecutive monthly decline in motor vehicle sales following a substantial increase in November.