June 2008

Wholesale prices increased 1.4% in May, seasonally adjusted, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported. This rise followed a 0.2% advance in April and a 1.1% increase in March.
 
At the earlier stages of processing, prices received by producers of intermediate goods rose 2.9% following a 0.9% advance a month earlier, and the crude goods index increased 6.7% after climbing 3.2% in April.
 
In May, the index for finished energy goods turned up 4.9% after falling 0.2% a month earlier. Prices for finished consumer foods increased 0.8% following no change in April. By contrast, partially offsetting the acceleration in the finished goods index, the rise in the index for finished goods less foods and energy -core inflation -slowed to 0.2% from …

Source: Statistics Canada
 
Manufacturers’ factory sales rose by a sharp 2.0% in April to $49.8 billion, following a weak March (-1.7%). Gains were led by the petroleum products industry but still were broadly based as 17 of the 21 manufacturing industries, representing 80% of total sales, reported increases.

Petroleum and coal products (+9.0%) dominated all industries in April, as manufacturing sales for this industry exceeded the $7.0 billion mark for the first time. Higher prices (+7.9%) and the return to more normal production levels, following the completion of scheduled maintenance by some refineries, were the key reasons for April’s showing.

Excluding petroleum from the mix, total …

Source: Statistics Canada
 
Canadian industries significantly reduced their use of production capacity in the first quarter, pushing the rate to its lowest level in 15 years. Most of the sectors that make up the industrial group, particularly the automotive sector, contributed to the decline. Only the oil and gas extraction sector posted an increase in capacity utilization.

In the first quarter, industries operated at 79.8% of their capacity compared with 81.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007. The current rate is 7.3 points below the peak of 87.1% reached in the fourth quarter of 2000.
 
The industrial capacity utilization rate is the ratio of an industry’s actual output to its estimated potential …