According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales were flat at $72.3 billion in November, as higher sales of durable goods (+1.8 percent), led by motor vehicles (+12.7 percent) and fabricated metal products (+2.7 percent), were offset by lower sales of non-durable goods (-1.7 percent), led by the chemical (-4.4 percent) and petroleum and coal product (-2.1 percent) industries.
Total inventory levels declined 0.5 percent to $121.6 billion in November, marking the first monthly decrease since December 2020, mainly from lower inventories in the machinery (-4.1 percent), transportation equipment (-0.8 percent) and chemical (-1.3 percent) industries. In contrast, the food (+1.0 percent) and computer and electronic product (+1.9 percent) industries posted the largest increases. Of the inventory components, goods in process (-1.6 percent) and raw materials (-0.9 percent) fell, while finished products increased 1.0 percent.
The inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.69 in October to 1.68 in November. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
The total value of unfilled orders fell for the second consecutive month, down 0.8 percent to $109.6 billion in November, with the decrease widespread across industries, led by the aerospace product and parts (-0.9 percent) and plastics and rubber product (-9.9 percent) industries. Higher unfilled orders of computer and electronics (+2.3 percent) and motor vehicles (+5.0 percent) partially offset the decline.
The value of new orders decreased for the second consecutive month, down 0.3 percent to $71.4 billion in November. Lower new orders in the aerospace product and parts (-26.5 percent), chemical (-6.3 percent) and fabricated metal product (-6.1 percent) industries played dominant roles in the monthly decline, while higher new orders in the motor vehicle (+20.8 percent), computer and electronics (+35.3 percent) and primary metal (+5.6 percent) industries partly offset the decline.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the manufacturing sector increased from 77.9 percent in October to 78.6 percent in November.