According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales edged down 0.1 percent in October to $58.2 billion, following four increases in the previous five months. Lower sales at wood product and primary metal industries were largely offset by higher sales at food and machinery industries.
Overall, sales were down in 7 of 21 industries, representing 40.5 percent of the manufacturing sector. Sales of durable goods decreased 0.9 percent to $30.0 billion, while sales of non-durable goods rose 0.7 percent to $28.3 billion.
Primary metal manufacturing sales were down 3.0 percent in October to $4.1 billion—the fifth consecutive monthly decline. The decrease in October was largely attributable to lower sales in the non-ferrous metal production and processing and the alumina and aluminum production and processing industries.
Machinery sales rose 2.9 percent in October to $3.4 billion, led by higher sales in the agricultural, construction and mining machinery as well as the other general-purpose machinery industries.
Sales also increased in the petroleum and coal product (+0.9 percent), fabricated metal product (+1.6 percent), motor vehicle parts (+1.7 percent) and motor vehicle (+0.9 percent) industries in October.
Inventory levels rose 1.0 percent to $85.0 billion in October. Inventories were up in 14 of 21 industries, with the largest increases in the machinery (+6.3 percent), transportation equipment (+1.6 percent) and primary metal (+2.3 percent) industries. These increases were partially offset by a 2.8 percent decline in chemical product inventories.
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.44 in September to 1.46 in October. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Unfilled orders increased 1.4 percent to $96.4 billion in October, following a 0.2 percent decline in September. Most of the gain was attributable to a 1.5 percent increase in the transportation equipment industry. Unfilled orders in this industry reached $64.7 billion in October, their highest level since January 2016. Unfilled orders also rose in the machinery (+2.2 percent) and fabricated metal product (+2.1 percent) industries.
After four consecutive monthly decreases, new orders were up 2.4 percent to $59.6 billion in October. The gain mostly reflected an increase in new orders in the railroad and rolling stock, other transportation equipment, fabricated metal product and aerospace products and parts manufacturing industries.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the manufacturing sector declined 1.2 percentage points, from 81.9 percent in September to 80.7 percent in October.
Overall, the capacity utilization rate fell in 8 of 21 industries in October, led by the petroleum and coal product and the transportation equipment manufacturing industries.
The capacity utilization rate for the petroleum and coal product industry declined for the third consecutive month, falling 9.0 percentage points to 79.0 percent in October. Shutdowns were partly responsible for the decrease in October.
The capacity utilization rate of the transportation equipment industry decreased 3.5 percentage points to 83.3 percent, reflecting the lower capacity utilization rate in the aerospace product and parts industry.
The capacity utilization rate of the primary metal industry rose 2.4 percentage points to 80.2 percent in October. The increase was mostly attributable to gains in the iron and steel mills, non-ferrous production and processing and foundries industries.