The U.S. Census Bureau released its monthly wholesale trade report on April 9, reflecting results through February, which showed a considerable February sales increase and continued gain that outpaced inventories.
The report showed that February sales of merchant wholesalers — except manufacturers’ sales branches and offices, after adjustments or seasonal variations and trading day differences, but not for price changes — were $751.9 billion, up 2.7% month-over-month after January’s upwardly revised 1.1% gain (from 0.5%)
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Year-over-year, February sales were up 8.8%, following January’s 8.2% YoY increase.
Within February’s wholesale sales data, durable goods sales 4.1% month-over-month after January’s upwardly revised 2.0% gain (from 1.0%) and jumped 13.2% YoY after January’s upwardly revised 12.3% increase (from 11.2%).
February’s nondurable sales were up 1.4% MoM after January’s 0.3% gain and up 4.6% YoY.
For all of 2025, annual sales totaled $8.442 trillion, up 4.8% vs. 2024.
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Here’s a year-over-year look at how February wholesale sales fared month-over-month and year-over-year by NAICS product category, seasonally-adjusted
Year-to-Date Sales
With two months of data in the books, here’s how U.S. wholesale sales have fared year-to-date in 2026 vs. 2025
Inventories
Total wholesale inventories increased by 0.8% during February, following January’s upwardly revised 0.3% decline (from -0.5%). Year-over-year, February inventories were up 1.8% (+1.3% in January).
Here’s a look at how February wholesale inventories fared month-over-month and year-over-year by NAICS product category.
Inventories/Sales Ratio
The seasonally-adjusted February inventories/sales ratio for wholesalers was 1.22, falling from January’s 1.25 and the 1.31 of a year earlier — meaning that sales are outpacing inventories.
Here’s a look at how February’s inventories/sales ratio fared month-over-month and year-over-year by NAICS product category.
