Statistics Canada reported that Canadian industries operated at 81 percent of their production capacity in the second quarter this year, rising 0.5 percentage points over the previous quarter and up two percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2011.
Statistics Canada noted that the strength of the transportation equipment and machinery industries contributed significantly to the growth in capacity utilization of manufacturing industries as a whole in the second quarter, as in the three previous quarters.
Capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector increased 0.5 percentage points to 81.6 percent in the second quarter, up 3.2 percentage points year on year. Meanwhile, capacity utilization rate in mining sector increased slightly by 0.2 percentage points to 61 percent in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of the year but fell by 7.7 percentage points compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
Canadian primary metal sector operated at 80.2 percent of their production capacity in the second quarter this year, falling 0.9 percentage points from the previous quarter and down 2.2 percentage points compared to the same quarter of 2011, while capacity utilization in the fabricated metal products sector decreased 0.3 percentage points to 81 percent in the second quarter, up 3.9 percentage points year on year.