According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales increased for the second consecutive month, up 2.3 percent to $53.5 billion in December, following a revised increase of 2.3 percent in November. The growth was mainly the result of higher sales of transportation equipment, as well as petroleum and coal products.
Sales of transportation equipment rose 7.4 percent to $11.2 billion in December, following two consecutive monthly decreases. Much of the increase in December was attributable to a sharp gain in sales of other transportation equipment, which totaled $489 million, and to higher sales in the motor vehicle parts (+7.1 percent) and motor vehicle assembly (+2.8 percent) industries. Growth in the motor vehicle parts and motor vehicle assembly industries partly reflected higher sales in the domestic market. The increase in the transportation equipment industry accounted for 65 percent of the total gain in manufacturing sales.
Inventories were down 0.3 percent to $69.6 billion in December, the third consecutive monthly decrease. Inventories fell in 11 of the 21 industries. The aerospace products and parts industry (-4.4 percent) and the motor vehicles industry (-8.5 percent) recorded the sharpest declines. These decreases were partially offset by a 9.2 percent increase in petroleum and coal product inventories. The inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.34 in November to 1.30 in December.
Unfilled orders fell 1.9 percent to $87.7 billion in December, the second consecutive monthly decline. The decrease in December was mainly due to a drop in unfilled orders in the aerospace products and parts industry, as well as the computer and electronic products industry. These declines were partially offset by an increase in unfilled orders in the machinery industry.
New orders were down 0.6 percent to $51.8 billion in December, following three consecutive monthly gains. There was a decline in new orders in the aerospace products and parts industry, as well as the computer and electronic products industry.