According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales rose for a second consecutive month in November, rising 2.6 percent to $63.1 billion on higher sales in 18 of 21 industries, led by the primary metal, petroleum and coal product, non-metallic mineral, and food product industries. Sales in constant dollars increased 1.9 percent in November, indicating a higher volume of goods sold.
Total inventories increased 1.2 percent to a record high $100.8 billion in November, on higher inventories of petroleum and coal (+6.9 percent) and chemicals (+4.3 percent). Higher prices of raw materials, in addition to manufacturers stocking up on raw material inventories to mitigate supply chain disruptions, were responsible for the recent gains in inventory levels. Year-over-year, total inventories rose 16.1 percent.
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreased from 1.62 in October to 1.60 in November. The ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Total value of unfilled orders rose 0.4 percent to $95.8 billion in November, mostly due to higher unfilled orders of machinery (+2.7 percent) and computers and electronics (+3.2 percent). The gains were partially offset by lower unfulfilled orders of ship and boat building. Year over year, unfilled orders were up 7.7 percent.
The total value of new orders increased 3.0 percent to $63.4 billion in November, mainly attributable to higher new orders of transportation equipment (+4.7 percent) and primary metals (+5.9 percent).
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector increased from 76.4 percent in October to 78.8 percent in November on higher production.
The capacity utilization rate rose in 13 of 21 industries in November, but the gains were more noticeable in the petroleum and coal (+11.2 percentage points), transportation equipment (+7.0 percentage points), and computer and electronic (+3.5 percentage points) product industries. The capacity utilization rate for chemical manufacturing fell 2.3 percentage points.