According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales rose 1.6 percent to $58.9 billion in May, following a 0.4 percent decline in April. The increase was mainly due to higher sales in the transportation equipment industry.
Sales were up in 12 of 21 industries, representing 66.2 percent of total Canadian manufacturing. Constant dollar sales rose 1.7 percent, indicating that a higher volume of products was sold in May.
Inventory levels rose 0.8 percent to $88.8 billion in May. Inventories were up in 13 of 21 industries, with the largest increases in the petroleum and coal product (+7.2 percent), computer and electronic product (+4.5 percent) and chemical (+1.5 percent) industries. These increases were partially offset by declines in the machinery (-1.2 percent) and food (-0.5 percent) industries.
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreased from 1.52 in April to 1.51 in May. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to continue at their current rate.
Unfilled orders were up 0.5 percent to $100.4 billion in May, the third increase in four months. The overall increase in May was mainly due to higher unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry, which were partly offset by lower unfilled orders in the machinery and fabricated metal product industries.
New orders rose 2.9 percent to $59.5 billion in May, mainly as a result of higher orders in the motor vehicle and aerospace product and parts industries.
The unadjusted capacity utilization rate for the manufacturing sector increased from 79.6 percent in April to 82.0 percent in May.
Overall, the capacity utilization rate rose in 18 of 21 industries, with the non-metallic mineral product and transportation equipment industries posting the largest increases in May.