June 2009

Manufacturers and wholesalers are starting to see positive signs for economic recovery, according to the third annual RSM McGladrey Manufacturing and Wholesale Distribution National Survey. Respondents to the survey say they expect their companies to rebound from the current recession beginning in late 2009 (46%) and early 2010 (44%). In general, companies predict an earlier rebound for their own businesses than for their industry or the U.S. economy.

Survey results indicate a significant year-over-year decline in the reported health of companies, however. Forty percent of respondents reported their business as "declining" this year, as compares to 12% in 2008. Only 9% reported their companies as "thriving and growing."

More than 920 manufacturing and wholesale distribution …

Canadian wholesale sales in current dollars fell 0.6% to $40.3 billion in April. Lower sales in the building materials sector and the machinery and electronic equipment sector were the main factors contributing to the decrease, according to Statistics Canada. In terms of the volume of sales, wholesale sales were up 0.5%. This was the first increase since September 2008.

Canadian wholesalers sell to both the domestic and international markets, and are active importers and exporters. The increase in the volume of sales, compared with the decrease in current dollar sales in April, reflects lower prices paid by wholesalers for imported goods, and the effect of the appreciation of the Canadian dollar versus the US dollar during the month.

In April, four of the seven sectors, accounting for …

Numbers released by Panjiva, a firm that tracks overseas suppliers, show an uptick of 2% in the number of global manufacturers shipping to the U.S. market in May. It is the third monthly increase in a row.

The firm reports a metric that tracks manufacturers that have suffered a 50% or greater decline in volume shipped to U.S. customers in the most recent three-month period, versus the same period a year ago. These manufacturers are on the Panjiva Watch List. “Significant manufacturers” are those that have shipped 10 or more shipments to the U.S. over the past year. “Significant buyers” are those that have received 10 or more shipments from overseas manufacturers in the past year.

According to Panjiva, the number of …

Canadian manufacturing sales edged down 0.1% to $41 billion in April, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada. Manufacturing sales leveled off between February and April, after falling by 18.7% between October 2008and January 2009. Sizable gains in the transportation equipment industry were offset by weakness in other industries. Excluding the transportation equipment industry, manufacturing sales decreased by 2.8%.

Constant dollar manufacturing sales gained 0.4% in April. The slight rise in constant dollar sales indicates an increase in the volume of sales between March and April. Although manufacturing sales remaining largely unchanged in April, sales decreased in 16 of 21 manufacturing industries.

By Sector
The weakness in most sectors was offset by a 16.4% gain in …

Canadian industries continued to reduce their rate of capacity utilization in the first quarter of 2009, operating at 69.3% of production capacity, down 5.6 percentage points from the previous quarter. It was the first time that industrial capacity use fell below the 70% level since the start of the data series in 1987.

In the first quarter, durable goods industries, especially the transportation equipment industry, the construction sector, and the mining sector (excluding oil and gas extraction), were the main contributors to the overall decline. Weakened global and domestic demand for manufactured goods continued to drive down capacity utilization rates. Of the 21 major industries in the manufacturing group, 18 registered lower rates.

As it did in the fourth quarter of 2008, the …