Wholesale trade climbed 2.2% to a record in October, far ahead of forecasts, as the machinery and electronic equipment sector posted its largest monthly gain in more than two years, Statistics Canada said today.

Analysts had expected sales to have risen 0.5% in the month. Instead, wholesalers sold $40.6 billion worth of goods and services, with the personal- and household-goods sector also showing gains. Six of the seven wholesale trade sectors rose in October.

Wholesale sales have been growing steadily since February, except in July when they fell 1.7%, the government agency said.

Growth was led by gains of 12.8% in farm products, 6.2% in machinery, 5.4% in household products and 1.5% in automotive products.

In the machinery and electronic equipment sector, wholesalers posted the largest gain since September, 2003, after cutting their spending in the previous three months, StatsCan said.

“Even so, this strong increase was not enough to offset the previous three consecutive monthly declines,” it added.

In October, only food, beverage and tobacco products registered a decrease, falling 1.8%. Building materials sales were little changed.

In constant prices, wholesale sales increased 0.8% in October.

From January to October, wholesale sales have risen 5.7% from the same period last year.