Canada’s wholesalers began the year on a subdued note after a strong end to 2006, as weaker deliveries of automotive products and personal and household goods pushed overall sales down.

Wholesale sales declined 0.5% in January to $42.7 billion, reversing some of the 2.7% gain made in December, Statistics Canada reported today.

Significant drops in automotive products (down 4.6%) and personal and household goods (down 4.5%) drove the January decline.

The remaining five wholesale sectors, representing 67% of overall sales, all registered increases in January, led by the building materials and machinery-and-electronic-equipment sectors.

Ontario bore the brunt of the January decline, reversing most of the gains it had made in the previous two months, while most other provinces and territories recorded higher sales, with notable increases coming in both the Prairie and Atlantic provinces.

Sales in constant dollars, which remove the effects of price fluctuations to isolate the change in volumes, were unchanged in January.