According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales fell 2.1 percent to $57.1 billion in April, on lower sales in 11 of 21 industries. Much of the decline was attributable to lower sales of transportation equipment and petroleum and coal products.
Manufacturing sales excluding the transportation equipment industry increased 1.5 percent in April, the 12th consecutive monthly gain.
Total inventories rose 0.8 percent to $89.2 billion in April on higher inventories of machinery (+5.0 percent), motor vehicles (+8.7 percent) and food (+1.5 percent). Inventories were down in the aerospace product and parts (-2.2 percent) and the non-metallic mineral product (-7.5 percent) industries.
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.52 in March to 1.56 in April. The ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Unfilled orders edged down 0.1 percent to $87.0 billion in April on lower unfilled orders of aerospace products and parts (-1.2 percent) and computer and electronic products (-6.1 percent). On a year-over-year basis, unfilled orders were down 11.4 percent.
The total value of new orders decreased 2.5 percent to $57.0 billion in April, driven by lower new orders in the transportation equipment industry (-20.8 percent). New orders rose 8.5 percent at chemical manufacturers.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector fell from 80.1 percent in March to 75.6 percent in April, driven by lower production.