You start in Japan, then go to Korea et al, then to New Zealand and Chile, then to Australia, then to Canada - I wander who's next?
<<OTTAWA, June 24 (Reuters) - Statistics Canada issued the following data on Wednesday:
----------------------------------------------------
Wholesale trade April 1998 (preliminary)
Wholesale sales were up 1.3% in April, offsetting March's decline (-0.8%). After two years of general increases, total wholesale sales have flattened out since the end of 1997 due to weaker sales in most trade groups. Year-over-year sale increases for March 1998 (+7.3%) and April 1998 (+7.5%) were the lowest of the last two years. In comparison, the 1997-over-1996 average percentage change for sales was 14.7%.
Total sales by wholesalers amounted to $28.4 billion in April, up $367 million from March. Led by farm machinery and equipment (+10.2%), apparel and dry goods (+4.2%) and goods in the ''other products'' category (+2.7%), 8 of the 11 trade groups showed higher sales in April. On the other hand, wholesale sales of household goods (-0.9%), computers and electronic equipment (-0.7%) and beverage, drug and tobacco (-0.4%) were down.>> |
