OTTAWA — Canadian wholesale sales rose unexpectedly in June, led by agricultural products and reflecting higher import costs, Statistics Canada said Thursday.
The federal agency said the value of purchases increased 0.2 per cent during the month to $47.8 billion following a two per cent advance in May, which was revised from an earlier estimate of 1.9 per cent. Economists had forecast a decline of 0.5 per cent in June.
However, after removing the impact of price changes, wholesale sales based on volume declined 0.5 per cent in June.
The June increase "primarily reflected higher prices for the imported products sold by wholesalers," the agency said. "This was partly attributable to the depreciation of the Canadian dollar relative to the American dollar during the month."
Four of the seven sub-sectors tracked by Statistics Canada posted gains in June.
Sales of agricultural supplies were up 15.1 per cent to $2.19 billion, with farm product purchases increasing 6.3 per cent to $569 million. "Wholesalers in this industry have been benefiting from strong global demand and increasing prices of fertilizer," the agency said.
Building supplies sales rose 2.1 per cent to $6.58 billion, and the machinery and equipment sector declined 1.9 per cent to $10.02 billion.
Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets, said the report was "a bit brighter than expected," but a decline in volume terms was "a negative contribution to monthly GDP."
"Overall, another data point that hints at a weak June for the Canadian economy and a negative GDP growth rate in Q2. Markets don't seem to be reacting much to the basket of news, and are instead focused on the 'risk off' sentiment handed over from European trading overnight."
