Canadian wholesale trade activity fell in April by its biggest drop since August 2003, Statistics Canada said today.

Overall sales fell by 3.1% in April to an estimated $42.8 billion. The drop followed increases of 2.3% and 0.9% in March and February respectively.

Sales in the automotive products sector fell by 8.3% to $8 billion, while sales in the “other products” category, which Statistics Canada says includes mainly agricultural products, chemicals, recycled materials and paper products, were off by 5.9%. Machinery and electronic equipment sales slipped by 2.3%.

Statistics Canada said the only positive note came from the food, beverage and tobacco products sector, where sales grew by 0.8%. Sales of personal and household goods edged up only 0.2%.

Retail sales figures for April will be released Thursday.

Separately, StatsCan reported that the growth of the composite leading index was steady at 0.5% in May. In total, 8 of the 10 components rose, the same as in April, StatsCan said.