Canadian manufacturing sales down 0.2 percent in January

Tuesday, 17 March 2020 19:17:39 (GMT+3)   |   San Diego
       

According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales were down 0.2 percent to $56.1 billion in January, the fifth consecutive monthly decline. Sales decreased in 9 of 21 industries, led by lower sales in the transportation equipment and petroleum and coal products industries. The food industry posted the largest gain.

Sales of transportation equipment fell for the second consecutive month, down 6.0 percent to $9.9 billion in January. The decline was mainly attributable to lower sales in the motor vehicle assembly (-12.3 percent) and motor vehicle parts (-1.6 percent) industries. This reflected longer temporary shutdowns at some assembly plants as well as the recent closure of the General Motors plant in Oshawa.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product industry fell 5.2 percent to $5.9 billion, following a 1.9 percent increase in December. The decrease in January reflected lower sales volumes and lower prices, as prices for the industry were down 2.6 percent according to the Industrial Product Price Index. Partial shutdowns at some Canadian refineries for maintenance work during the month were a major contributor to the decline in volumes sold (-3.3 percent).

Manufacturing sales rose in 12 industries in January, led by the food (+2.6 percent), non-metallic mineral product (+15.7 percent), machinery (+4.6 percent) and fabricated metal product (+4.6 percent) industries.

Inventory levels increased 0.4 percent to $87.5 billion in January, following a 0.6 percent decline in December. Inventories were up in 12 of 21 industries, led by the machinery (+5.1 percent) and transportation equipment (+1.5 percent) industries. These increases were partly offset by declines in the primary metal (-2.6 percent) and petroleum and coal products (-3.2 percent) industries.

The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.55 in December to 1.56 in January. 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 rose 0.5 percent in January to $97.9 billion, following three months of declines. The growth in unfilled orders was attributable to the transportation equipment industry and, to a lesser extent, the chemical industry.

New orders rose 0.8 percent to $56.6 billion in January, mostly reflecting higher new orders in the transportation equipment, fabricated metal product, food as well as non-metallic mineral product industries.

The unadjusted capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector increased 0.5 percentage points from 76.8 percent in December to 77.3 percent in January.


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