According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales declined 1.1 percent to $50.4 billion in October, the third consecutive decrease. Declines in the petroleum and coal product, aerospace product and parts, and machinery industries were responsible for the overall drop.
Sales were down 5.7 percent to $4.5 billion in the petroleum and coal product industry, the fifth consecutive decline. The decrease in October reflected lower production of refined products. Maintenance and turnaround work at some refineries that began in September continued into October. Although shutdowns for maintenance and turnaround work often occur in September and October, this year the shutdowns were more extensive than usual. Prices, as reported by the Industrial Product Price Index, were down 1.1 percent. With this latest decline, sales in the industry were at their lowest level since April 2009 ($4.2 billion).
Machinery sales fell 4.6 percent in October to $2.8 billion, largely reflecting lower sales in the commercial and service machinery manufacturing sub-industry. Manufacturers in this sub-industry produce a variety of machines used in the retail and service industries, such as cash registers, photographic equipment, vending machines and simulation equipment. Sales in the sub-industry tend to fluctuate on the basis of the completion of large projects.
Sales also decreased in the primary metal (-2.4 percent) and the miscellaneous (-6.6 percent) industries. Declines were widespread in both industries.
The sales declines were partly offset by higher sales in the motor vehicle industry. Motor vehicle sales rose 4.9 percent to $5.3 billion in October, as a result of higher volumes of vehicles produced. This was the fifth increase in six months. Sales in the industry since the beginning of the year were 7.4 percent higher compared with the same period (January to October) in 2014.
Meanwhile, Canadian manufacturing inventories rose 0.5 percent to $73.5 billion in October, as a result of gains in the transportation equipment industry and the computer and electronic product industry. A 2.7 percent decline in primary metal inventories offset a portion of the gains.
In the transportation equipment industry, inventories of aerospace products rose 2.1 percent to $9.1 billion, the fourth consecutive monthly advance. Computer and electronic product inventories rose 6.1 percent to $2.8 billion. Gains in the industry were widespread.