Statistics Canada has reported that manufacturing sales in the country fell 1.4 percent to $48.8 billion in October. The gain reflected production declines in the aerospace product and parts, the motor vehicle assembly, and the primary metal industries. Statistics Canada noted that the declines were partly offset by higher sales in the petroleum and coal product industries.
In October compared to September this year, sales in the aerospace product and parts industry which is one of the more volatile industries in the Canadian manufacturing sector, dropped 25.4 percent to $1.3 billion, following a 37.1 percent increase in September from August. Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry declined 3.7 percent to $4.4 billion, following a 3.6 percent decrease in September. Sales in the industry had reached a recent peak of $4.7 billion in August, the highest level since November 2007. In the primary metal industry, sales were down 2.8 percent to $3.7 billion. The decrease largely reflected a lower volume of products sold.
Advances in the petroleum and coal product industry as well as the wood product industry offset a portion of the declines. In the petroleum and coal product industry, sales rose two percent to $7.4 billion.
Meanwhile, capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector remained unchanged at 81.7 percent in the third quarter, according to Statistics Canada. The strength of the transportation equipment industry kept the manufacturing sector's capacity utilization rate from declining. Excluding the growth in the transportation equipment industry's capacity use, the manufacturing sector would have decreased 0.2 percentage points in the third quarter.
The capacity utilization rate in the primary metals sector was 80.8 percent, falling by 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and down 1.9 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2011, while fabricated metals capacity utilization was at 83 percent, stable compared to the previous quarter and up 5.9 percent year on year.