2010.08.1909:44:00UTC+00Canadian Wholesale Sales Unexpectedly Drop In June

Canadian wholesale sales remained sluggish in June, falling slightly for a second month in a row amid a notable drop in machinery and equipment sales. Inventories rose to the highest level since last year.

Wholesale sales declined 0.3% to C$43.9 billion in June, with four of the seven wholesale subsectors posting declines, according to data released by Statistics Canada Thursday.

The decrease came as a surprise to analysts, who were looking for an increase of 0.4%, following May's decline of 0.1%.

The largest decrease for June came in the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector, which fell 2.3% to C$8.9 billion.

The largest increases were recorded among agricultural supplies, non-agricultural chemicals, paper products, and recycled materials industries.

Wholesale sales were up 7.7% on a year-over-year basis, slowing from the 9.5% annual sales growth seen in May.

Wholesale trade inventories climbed 0.6% to $52.7 billion on-month in June, their highest level since September 2009.

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