Manufacturing sales down in October: StatsCan

Manufacturing sales declined 0.8 per cent in October, a new report by Statistics Canada said.

According to StatsCan, manufacturing sales fell 0.8 per cent to $51 billion in October, including declines in the primary metal, petroleum and coal products, and machinery industries.

October’s decline followed two consecutive monthly gains.

“Primary metal manufacturing sales fell 2.4 per cent in October to $3.6 billion due in large part to non-ferrous metal production, and iron and steel mills and ferro-alloy manufacturing,” StatsCan said. “The petroleum and coal product industry also saw sales fall 1.7 per cent to $4.3 billion due to lower volumes, as maintenance and turnaround work at some operations also lowered production.”

The aerospace product and parts industry gained 5.3 per cent, the agency said.

Sales fell in seven provinces for the month as Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta posted the largest declines. “Ontario sales fell 0.8 per cent to $25.0 billion, while Quebec dropped 1.2 per cent to $11.7 billion,” StatsCan said. “Manufacturing sales in Alberta lost 2.0 per cent at $5.2 billion.”