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Canada's Wholesale Sales Increase as Expected in June on Machinery

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Canadian wholesale sales, excluding oil, oil products, other hydrocarbons, oilseed and grain, rose 2.8% on the month to C$92.5 billion in June, marking a fourth increase in five months, according to the country's statistical agency on Friday.

June's increase was broadly in line with a 2.7% monthly consensus gain provided in a Bloomberg survey.

Sales rose across all seven subsectors, led by machinery, equipment and supplies, which increased 4.8% monthly to C$20.1 billion, said Statistics Canada in a statement.

On a year-over-year basis, wholesale sales were up 9.0%.

In volume terms, wholesale sales rose 1.9% on the month in June to a record high, led by a 4.8% increase in machinery, equipment and supplies, driven by a 25.9% jump in farm, lawn and garden equipment, added StatsCan.

Wholesale inventories increased 1.2% on the month to C$140.4 billion in June, while the inventory-to-sales ratio, which measures the time in months required to exhaust inventories if sales remain at current levels, improved to 1.52 from 1.54 in May, indicating a faster pace of inventory turnover.

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