Manufacturing sales rose in June, StatCan says

Following two consecutive monthly declines, manufacturing sales rose 2.1 per cent to $59.2 billion in June Statistics Canada said, driven by production at auto assembly plants and higher sales of petroleum and coal products.

Sales rose in 13 of 21 industries, while wood product sales posted the largest decline in June, StatCan said.

“While the semiconductor chip supply shortage continues to affect motor vehicle manufacturing around the world, most auto assembly plants in Canada were able to partially increase production in June, and sales rose by one-quarter (+25.6%) month over month to $2.9 billion,” the agency said.

Sales in the petroleum and coal industry rose 5.2% to $5.6 billion in June, it added, following two monthly declines. “Sales in volume terms rose 3.8%, indicating that both the price and the volume of sales contributed to the increase,” the agency said. “Exports of refined petroleum energy products rose 37.1% in June to their highest level since January 2020.”

Production of aerospace product and parts (+21.7%) and sales of food products (+1.3%) and machinery (+3.0%) were also up in June from the previous month.

Manufacturing sales rose in seven provinces in June, led by Ontario and Quebec. Meanwhile, Manitoba posted the largest decline. Following two consecutive monthly declines, sales in Ontario rose 4.3% to $25.1 billion in June, driven by motor vehicle (+27.5%), chemicals (+4.3%) and motor vehicle parts (+4.5%). Despite the monthly increase, motor vehicle sales were down by almost one-third (-30.0%) in the second quarter, the third consecutive quarterly decline.

Manufacturing sales in Quebec increased 1.6% to $14.8 billion in June, led by the aerospace products and parts (+23.8%), petroleum and coal (+22.0%) and food (+2.4%) industries. Wood product sales posted the largest decline, down 9.2% in June. Total sales were up 1.3% in Quebec in the second quarter.

In Manitoba, meanwhile, manufacturing sales declined 7.6% to $1.6 billion in June, mainly attributable to lower sales of chemicals (-44.9%), while sales in Alberta decreased 1.4% month over month in June and were up 13.1% in the second quarter.