Manufacturing sales down in November, wholesale sales up, StatCan says

Manufacturing sales dropped 0.6 per cent to $53.7 billion in November, a new report from Statistics Canada says, while Canadian wholesale sales grew for the seventh consecutive month to hit a record high.

Manufacturing sales fell in November for the first time in three months, StatCan said, and sales were down in 5 of 21 industries, driven mainly by the aerospace product and parts, motor vehicle, and motor vehicle parts industries.

The transportation equipment industry fell 9.1 per cent to $8.9 billion in November, the report said, while aerospace production fell 23.8 per cent to $1.2 billion and motor vehicle sales slipped 5.7 per cent to $4.3 billion. “Travel restrictions and market uncertainty attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic continued to negatively affect aerospace production in November,” the report said.

Wood product manufacturing sales fell 4.1 per cent to $3.3 billion in November on lower sales in the sawmills and wood preservation industry

Manufacturing sales declined in six provinces in November, led by Ontario and British Columbia. Alberta and New Brunswick posted the largest gains. Manufacturing sales on an unadjusted basis were down in 9 of the 12 selected census metropolitan areas in November, led by Montréal and Toronto. Ottawa–Gatineau posted the largest gain.

Meanwhile, StatCan said that wholesale sales rose 0.7 per cent to an all-time high of $67.4 billion as five of seven subsectors reported stronger sales. The gains were led by the machinery, equipment and supplies subsector, and the building material and supplies subsector. The machinery, equipment and supplies group rose 2.8 per cent to $14.3 billion, while building material and supplies rose 1.1 per cent to $10.2 billion