Fastenal reported its July sales information on Aug. 4, and as one of the nation’s top industrial distributors, the future bodes well for the industrial supplies market amid all of the discussion of economic headwinds.

Fastenal — which uniquely reports its sales information each month — posted July total sales of $553 million. That’s up 12.5% year-over-year and up 18.1% on a daily sales basis, as June had one additional selling day. That daily sales figure is an acceleration from June’s 16.0% and May’s 17.6%, showing that the Winona, Minnesota-based distributor continues to see strong demand heading into the second month of 2022’s third quarter.

Keep in mind, however, that Fastenal’s monthly reports don’t note the impact of pricing, which undoubtedly plays a part in those year-over-year sales gains; but the month-to-month acceleration is a good sign nonetheless for an industrial sector keeping a close eye on how an expected economic slowdown will impact industrial demand.

By geography, Fastenal’s July daily sales increased 17.8% year-over-year in the U.S. (16.7% in June); increased 23.3% in Canada/Mexico (16.7% in June); and increased 9.1% in the rest of international (-1.2% in June).

By customer end market, Fastenal’s July daily sales jumped 22.4% year-over-year to Manufacturing (21.0% in June) and increased 8.8% to Non-residential Construction (8.3% in June).

By product line, Fastenal’s July daily sales of Fasteners increased 19.8% year-over-year (18.1% in June); Safety increased 13.6% (9.5% in June); and all other products increased 18.9% (16.8% in June).

By customer/channel type, Fastenal’s national accounts saw July daily sales grow 23.0% year-over-year (21.0% in June), while non-national accounts grew 12.0% (10.0% in June). Fastenal said 85.0% of its top 100 national accounts grew daily sales in July (82.0% in June); while 72.3% of the company’s public branches grew daily sales (72.1% in June).

Fastenal ended July with a total company headcount of 21,803, up 0.8% from June and up 7.3% year-over-year. The company’s total full-time selling personnel headcount ended July at 14,391, up 0.4% from June and up 7.5% year-over-year.