2009

Canadian wholesale sales fell 0.6% to $41 billion in February, the sixth decline in seven months, according to Statistics Canada. Declining sales in the machinery and equipment trade group and the "other products" sector were major factors contributing to this decrease. In terms of the volume of sales, wholesale sales were flat.

Canadian wholesalers sell to both the domestic and international markets, and are active importers and exporters. The decline in sales reflected both lower export demand for Canadian goods, a significant part of which flows through wholesale markets, and weaker sales in .

In February, four out of seven sectors, accounting for over two-thirds of total wholesale sales, posted declines. The machinery and electronic …

The manufacturing sector once again contracted in April, according to the latest Manufacturing ISM Report on Business.
 
The decline in the manufacturing sector however has moderated, says the Institute for Supply Management. After six months below the 40% mark, the PMI, driven by the New Orders Index at 47.2%, has shown improvement at 40.1%.
 
Still, ISM reports that "a large gap must be closed before manufacturing begins to grow once again. The Customers’ Inventories Index indicates that channels are paring inventories to acceptable levels after reporting inventories as ‘too high’ for eight consecutive months. The prices manufacturers pay for their goods and services continue to decline; however, copper prices have bottomed and are now starting to …