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 …
