According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales edged down 0.2 percent in February to $56.6 billion, following a 0.8 percent increase in January.
Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry were down 4.4 percent to $4.9 billion in February, mostly attributable to fewer vehicles sold.
Partially offsetting these declines were increases in the petroleum and coal product industry, as sales rose for the second consecutive month, up 7.1 percent to $5.7 billion in February. The increase reflected higher prices as well as higher volumes, as several refineries ramped up production. In constant dollars, sales of petroleum and coal products rose 3.7 percent in February.
Inventory levels increased for the third consecutive month, rising 0.5 percent to $85.8 billion in February. Inventories were up in 9 of 21 industries, with the largest increases in the primary metal (+1.8 percent), petroleum and coal product (+3.1 percent) and machinery (+1.4 percent) industries. These increases were partially offset by a decline in wood, motor vehicle and food inventories.
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.50 in January to 1.51 in February. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to continue at their current rates.
Unfilled orders were down 0.4 percent to $101.9 billion in February, following a 1.3 percent decline in January. The decrease in February mainly reflected lower unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry (-2.1 percent). This was partially offset by higher unfilled orders in ship and boat building and computer and electric products industries.
New orders were up 1.5 percent to $56.3 billion, mainly as a result of higher orders of transportation equipment (+7.1 percent).
The unadjusted capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector decreased from 78.7 percent in January to 78.2 percent in February. While declines were widespread, the chemical industry had the largest decrease in capacity utilization rate, falling from 84.7 percent in January to 81.8 percent in February.