Wholesale trade, sales — AI AnalysisCanada's wholesale trade sales grew 624.7% over 33 years, rising from $14.7 billion in January 1993 to a peak of $132.3 billion in May 2023, before moderating through early 2026. The dataset covers 397 monthly observations across 46 NAICS industry categories, revealing a highly right-skewed distribuKey Findings

Wholesale trade sales grew 624.7% over 33 years, from $14.7 billion in January 1993 to a peak of $132.3 billion in May 2023, reflecting sustained long-run expansion in Canadian wholesale activity.

The distribution is heavily right-skewed, with a mean of $7.6 billion nearly 3x the median of $2.6 billion, driven by large aggregate NAICS categories pulling the average upward.

9 statistical outliers (Z-score > 2.5) were identified, all concentrated in May–September 2022, when sales surged well above historical norms likely due to post-pandemic demand and elevated commodity prices.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the single largest monthly decline on record at -21.6% in April 2020, followed by the largest monthly spike of +44.0% in January 2021 as economic activity rebounded.

Most NAICS wholesale trade categories display strong positive correlations with one another, suggesting that broad macroeconomic cycles — rather than sector-specific factors — primarily drive sales movements across the industry.

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