Wholesale Sales Excluding Petroleum Slips as Expected in August on Weaker Motor Vehicles, Parts

08:57 AM EDT, 10/15/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Canadian Wholesale sales, excluding petroleum and related products, as well as oilseed and grain, declined 1.6% on the month to CA$91.6 billion in August, with five of seven subsectors contributing to the drop, according to Canada's statistical agency on Thursday. August decline was in line with a 1.5% monthly consensus slip provided in a Bloomberg survey. The steepest declines were recorded in motor vehicles and parts, down 3.8% on the month to CA$15.1 billion, and agricultural supplies, which fell 12.4% to CA$3.5 billion, wrote Statistics Canada in a statement. Despite the monthly pullback, wholesale sales remained 7.2% above year-ago levels, added StatsCan. Inventories held steady on the month at CA$141.0 billion, while the inventory-to-sales ratio rose to 1.54 from 1.51 in July. This ratio measures the time in months required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at current levels.