According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales declined for the fourth consecutive month, down 0.7 percent to $56.4 billion in December.
Sales were down in 11 of 21 industries, representing 42.6 percent of the Canadian manufacturing sector. The largest declines were in the motor vehicle assembly and aerospace product and parts industries. However, these decreases were partly offset by higher sales in the primary metal industry.
Inventory levels fell 0.3 percent to $87.4 billion in December. Inventories were down in 8 of 21 industries, led by the transportation equipment (-4.3 percent), computer and electronic product (-6.7 percent) and machinery (-1.5 percent) industries. These decreases were partially offset by higher inventories in the petroleum and coal product (+6.4 percent) and chemical (+4.8 percent) industries.
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.54 in November to 1.55 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.
Total unfilled orders for the manufacturing sector edged down 0.1 percent to $97.6 billion in December. Higher unfilled orders in the ship and boat building, and the chemical industries were offset by lower unfilled orders in the computer and electronic product, and the fabricated metal product industries.
New orders fell 0.6 percent to $56.4 billion in December. The decline was mostly attributable to lower new orders in the aerospace product and parts, motor vehicle and fabricated metal product industries.
The unadjusted capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector decreased from 80.0 percent in November to 76.3 percent in December. Declines were widespread and may reflect to some extent regular seasonal variations. The transportation equipment as well as the plastics and rubber products industries posted the largest declines in December.