U.S. July Wholesale Sales Jump Alongside Big June Revision

The figures indicate that the industry entered the final third of 2025 with momentum after a strong June and July.

The U.S. Census Bureau released its monthly wholesale trade report on Sept. 10, reflecting July activity, which showed a considerable upswing in sales that followed an upwardly revised June, while inventories ticked up for a second straight month.

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The report showed that July 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 $713 billion, up 1.4% from June and up 6.2% year-over-year. Meanwhile, June’s figure was strongly revised up from the previous 0.3% estimate to 0.7%.

Within wholesale trade, the report showed that seasonally adjusted durable goods sales 48.8% of total (49.0% in June) were up 1.3% from June (June was +0.7%) and up 8.6% year-over-year, while nondurable sales likewise jumped 1.6% from June and 4.1% year-over-year.

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Inventories

Meanwhile, July’s wholesale trade inventories were valued at $908.1 billion, up 0.1% from the revised June level and up 1.3% year-over-year. The June to July figure was revised down from the previous 0.2% estimate to 0.1%.

U.S. wholesale trade inventories, month-to-month % change

source: tradingeconomics.com

The July inventory/sales ratio for wholesalers was 1.28, down from June’s 1.29 and the 1.34 of a year earlier.

MDM’s Quicktake

After a 0.4% May decline, the June and July figures illustrate a strong rebound for U.S. wholesale trade sales, but some of the gain is undoubtedly tied to customers’ frontloading on orders to get ahead of expected tariff-driven price increases. July’s Producer Price Index was seen as the first real sign of tariff-led inflation showing up in wholesale pricing, though August’s report showed that wholesale inflation unexpectedly eased.

July Wholesale Sales by Product Category

Here’s how seasonally adjusted wholesale trade sales of durable and nondurable goods fared in July on both a month-over-month and year-over-year basis across the 19 industry sectors that the Bureau identifies.