According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales declined 0.3 percent to $55.5 billion in December, following a revised increase of 3.8 percent in November. The decline was mainly the result of lower sales in the petroleum and coal products industry and the food manufacturing industry.
Overall, sales were down in 11 of 21 industries, representing 57.0 percent of the manufacturing sector. Sales of non-durable goods decreased 1.3 percent, while sales of durable goods rose 0.7 percent.
Sales in current dollars decreased in the primary metal (-2.0 percent) and fabricated metal product (-2.3 percent) industries. Both industries reported sales increases the previous two months. In constant dollars, volumes sold declined by 1.8 percent and 2.3 percent respectively in these industries in December.
These declines in current dollars were partially offset by increases in the motor vehicle (+2.6 percent), machinery (+3.0 percent), computer and electronic product (+7.4 percent) and aerospace product and parts (+4.2 percent) industries.
Inventory levels edged up 0.1 percent from November to $75.3 billion in December. Inventories rose in 8 of the 21 industries, led by the petroleum and coal products (+4.9 percent) and the other transportation equipment (+10.4 percent) industries. These gains were partially offset by lower inventories in the railroad rolling stock industry and fabricated metal product industry.
The inventory-to-sales ratio rose from 1.35 in November to 1.36 in December. The inventory-to-sales ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Unfilled orders fell 0.7 percent to $86.0 billion in December, the second consecutive monthly decline. The decrease in December was mainly due to a drop in unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry, as well as the other transportation equipment industry.
New orders were up 0.3 percent to $54.9 billion in December, following a 2.3 percent decline in November.