Weak demand in the building materials, machinery and electronic equipment sectors pushed Canadian wholesale activity down by 0.6% in March to $40.5 billion, Statistics Canada said Thursday.

In terms of volume, wholesale sales were down 1.3%.

A weaker Canadian dollar meant that wholesalers paid more for imported goods, StatsCan said.

With the March decline, wholesale activity has now retreated in seven of the past eight months.

The building materials sector saw a sales drop of 3.1% in March, with more than two-thirds of the decline stemming from metal products trade, which fell 9.8%. Sales of the metal products trade group in March fell to a level not seen since June 2004.

In the machinery and electronic equipment sector, activity decreased 1.8%.

The automotive products sector reported a 2.8% increase in sales — the second consecutive month of higher activity. Sales of motor vehicles increased 3.3%, while sales of motor vehicle parts and accessories rose 1.5%.

IE