According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales edged down 0.2 percent in September to $57.4 billion, following a 0.8 percent increase in August.
Sales were down in 10 of 21 industries, representing 62.2 percent of the Canadian manufacturing sector. Sales in the petroleum and coal product and the motor vehicle parts industries accounted for the majority of the decrease in September. However, these decreases were largely offset by increases in the machinery and motor vehicle industries.
Inventory levels declined 0.8 percent to $88.0 billion in September, following two months of increases. Inventories were down in 11 of 21 industries, led by transportation equipment (-3.0 percent), petroleum and coal product (-4.3 percent) and wood product (-1.9 percent) industries. These decreases were partly offset by a 1.3 percent increase in food inventories.
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreased from 1.54 in August to 1.53 in September, mostly due to lower inventories of durable goods. 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 decreased 0.6 percent to $97.4 billion in September. The decline was mainly attributable to lower unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry as well as the computer and electronic products industry. These declines in unfilled orders were partially offset by an increase in unfilled orders in the machinery industry.
The unadjusted capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector declined 0.5 percentage points, from 79.7 percent in August to 79.2 percent in September. Overall, the capacity utilization rate decreased in 10 of 21 industries, with the petroleum and coal products and chemical industries posting the largest declines in September.