Canadian manufacturing sales decreased 0.2 percent to C$53.6 billion (US$40.4 billion) in February, according to Statistics Canada. The largest declines were in the motor vehicle assembly and petroleum and coal product manufacturing industries. However, these decreases were largely offset by gains in the aerospace products and parts, primary metal and machinery industries.
Sales were down in 10 of the 21 industries, representing 37 percent of the Canadian manufacturing sector.
Once the effects of price changes are taken into consideration, manufacturing sales in volumes edged up 0.1 percent in February.
Sales in the motor vehicle assembly industry were down 5.3 percent to $5.7 billion (US$4.3 billion) in February. After removing the effect of price changes, sales in volume terms decreased 4.6 percent in February. Following four consecutive monthly gains, sales in the petroleum and coal products industry fell 5 percent to $5.1 billion (US$3.8 billion) in February, reflecting lower prices and volumes. After removing price effects, sales volumes of petroleum and coal products were down 2.0 percent.
Sales in the chemical manufacturing industry rose 2.5 percent, the third increase in four months. A large part of the gain was the result of higher demand by farmers for pesticides and other agricultural chemicals products, which usually occurs before the start of the season.
These declines in current dollars were partially offset by increases in the aerospace product and parts (+27 percent), primary metal (+2.8 percent) and machinery (+3.1 percent) manufacturing industries. Once the effects of price changes are taken into consideration, sales volumes increased by 30.7 percent, 2.0 percent and 3.2 percent respectively in these three industries.
Sales decreased in seven provinces in February, led by Ontario.
Sales in Ontario fell 1.1 percent to $25.7 billion (US$19.4 billion), mostly attributable to lower sales in the motor vehicle (-5.5 percent), motor vehicle parts (-3.4 percent) and petroleum and coal product (-6.1 percent) industries. These decreases were partially offset by a 5.4 percent increase in sales in the primary metal manufacturing industry.
In Quebec, sales rose 2.1 percent to $12.9 billion (US$9.7 billion) in February, their highest level since July 2008. The increase was mainly attributable to a 27.4 percent gain in the transportation equipment industry. Sales also rose in the food (+0.9 percent) and machinery (+2.1 percent) industries. These increases were partly offset by declines in the petroleum and coal products and the chemical product industries.
In Alberta, sales rose 1.4 percent to $5.7 billion (US$4.3 billion), the fourth straight monthly increase. The overall gain was largely driven by higher sales in the machinery (+13.6 percent) and fabricated metal product (+11.1 percent) industries.
