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B.C. has country’s biggest drop in retail sales in June: StatsCan

British Columbia's retail sales fell 1.8% in June to $3.3 billion, which is a decrease of $72 million compared with the previous month, according to Statistics Canada data released August 22.
autopartsmechanicshutterstock
Sales at auto parts stores fell 0.7% in June, contributing to an overall drop in retail sales in the month | Shutterstock

British Columbia's retail sales fell 1.8% in June to $3.3 billion, which is a decrease of $72 million compared with the previous month, according to Statistics Canada data released August 22.

This drop is the biggest decline in Canada over the period in terms of both percentage and dollar value. Manitoba was a distant second in terms of percentage decrease at 1.8%.

Vancouver retail sales fell 2.1% in June, with decreases across almost all subsectors.

In Canada overall, sales were $50.7 billion in June, a decrease of 0.2% in the month after an increase of 2.2% in May. Sales were down in six of 11 subsectors.

Sales at gas stations fell 2.3% (after a 5.2% in May) and motor vehicle and parts sales dipped 0.7%, which offset higher food and beverage (up 0.7%) and building materials sales (up 0.6%).

CIBC Economics’ Royce Mendes said June’s drop was no surprise and won’t change expectations about a Bank of Canada rate hike in September or October.

“Canadians weren’t in much of a spending mood to end the second quarter,” Mendes said in a note to investors. “

“Consumption does appear to be on more solid footing in Q2, which will contribute to the strength in the upcoming GDP report, but a soft handoff means that third quarter growth could fall back below 2%.”

The Canadian dollar dipped slightly on the release of the retail data, but it has regained any ground lost in the morning. As of press time, it was trading at around 76.8 cents U.S.

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@EmmaHampelBIV