According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales increased for the fifth consecutive month, up 4.2 percent to $67.7 billion in February on higher sales in 14 of 21 industries, led by the motor vehicle (+25.0 percent), food (+5.3 percent), petroleum and coal (+6.7 percent), and wood (+8.5 percent) industries. Meanwhile, sales of computer and electronic products decrease the most, down 7.9 percent to $1.2 billion in February. Total manufacturing sales rose 19.5 percent on a year-over-year basis in February.
Total inventories increased 1.0 percent to $106.7 billion in February, mainly on higher inventories in the petroleum and coal product (+9.1 percent), primary metal (+3.5 percent), and motor vehicle (+12.8 percent) industries. Higher prices of raw materials driven mainly by global supply chain disruptions have contributed to the growth in total inventories since January 2021. Year over year, total inventories rose 20.4 percent in February 2022.
Despite the inventories accumulation, they did not outpace sales and consequently, the inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.63 in January to 1.58 in February. 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 rose 0.9 percent to $100.9 billion in February, the highest level since April 2020, driven mainly by higher unfilled orders of aerospace product and parts (+2.1 percent) and plastic and rubber (+8.2 percent).
The total value of new orders increased for the fifth consecutive month, up 2.4 percent to $68.6 billion in February, led by the motor vehicle (+24.3 percent), food (+6.0 percent) and petroleum and coal (+5.7 percent) product industries. New orders of ship and boat building declined the most.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector rose from 73.7 percent in January to 76.9 percent in February on higher production.
The capacity utilization rate increased in 14 of 21 industries in February and was more noticeable in the transportation equipment (+10.6 percentage points), chemical product (+4.5 percentage points) and wood product (+3.7 percentage points) industries. Higher production of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts contributed to the increase in capacity utilization of transportation equipment. Meanwhile, the capacity utilization rate fell in the non-metallic mineral (-2.3 percentage points), beverage and tobacco (-1.4 percentage points), and computer and electronic (-0.7 percentage points) industries.