Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.
Manufacturing sales advanced 0.2% in April to $44.5 billion. Sales increases by primary metal and petroleum and coal product manufacturers were largely offset by a decline in the food industry. Manufacturing sales have risen in 8 of the past 10 months and have been trending upward since the low reached in May 2009.
Constant dollar manufacturing sales decreased 0.1% in April following seven consecutive months of increases.
Sales gains were reported in 11 of 21 industries, representing 67.8% of total sales.
In April, higher prices (+3.3%) were largely responsible for boosting manufacturing sales of primary metals 3.6%, marking the 8th increase in 10 months. Petroleum and coal product manufacturers posted a sales increase of 2.1%, partly attributable to some refineries returning to full production and a 0.7% increase in petroleum prices.
In the transportation equipment sector, which posted a 0.7% increase overall, the aerospace product and parts industry was up 7.1%. Sales in the motor vehicle industry decreased 1.0%.
The food product industry decreased 2.1%, offsetting some of April's gains.
Most of the gains in April were in the Atlantic provinces (+11.0%) and Quebec (+1.2%). Sales increased in Newfoundland and Labrador (+42.6%) and New Brunswick (+11.1%), both on the strength of the non-durable goods industries. Saskatchewan (+0.6%) was the only other province reporting a gain in manufacturing sales.
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars unless otherwise specified.
Preliminary data are provided for the current reference month. Revised data, based on late responses, are updated for the three previous months.
Non-durable goods industries include food, beverage and tobacco products, textile mills, textile product mills, clothing, leather and allied products, paper, printing and related support activities, petroleum and coal products, chemicals, and plastics and rubber products.
Durable goods industries include wood products, non-metallic mineral products, primary metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, computer and electronic products, electrical equipment, appliances and components, transportation equipment, furniture and related products and miscellaneous manufacturing.
Production-based industries
For the aerospace industry and shipbuilding industries, the value of production is used instead of sales of goods manufactured. This value is calculated by adjusting monthly sales of goods manufactured by the monthly change in inventories of goods in process and finished products manufactured.
Unfilled orders are a stock of orders that will contribute to future sales assuming that the orders are not cancelled.
New orders are those received whether sold in the current month or not. New orders are measured as the sum of sales for the current month plus the change in unfilled orders from the previous month to the current month.
The increase in Quebec was widespread, including petroleum and coal products (+6.8%), transportation equipment (+6.3%) and primary metals (+3.5%). These gains were offset by decreases in the fabricated metal (-7.4%) and food product industries (-1.5%).
Sales in Ontario decreased 0.3% in April, reflecting falling sales in petroleum and coal products (-5.0%), beverage and tobacco products (-9.1%) and the motor vehicle industry (-0.8%). Offsetting these decreases were gains in primary metals (+2.5%) and the electrical equipment, appliance and component industry (+6.3%).
Manufacturers in Manitoba reported a 4.5% decrease in sales in April, reversing much of the 5.4% increase in March. Declines were reported in primary metals (-16.0%) and in electrical equipment, appliance and component sales (-67.2%). A 19.5% increase in chemical manufacturing sales offset some of April's losses.
Sales in Alberta decreased 2.7% following eight consecutive months of increases. The petroleum and coal products industry (-10.9%) accounted for most of the decrease.
In British Columbia, sales declined 2.5% in April following a 4.2% gain in March. Decreases were seen in many industries, including food manufacturing (-3.0%) and computer and electronic product manufacturing (-14.6%).
Inventory levels increased 0.3% to $59.1 billion in April following a 0.7% decrease in March. The declines in inventories have levelled off since November 2009.
The largest inventory increases were in the food industry (+2.2%), primary metal industries (+1.5%) and aerospace product and parts (+1.3%).
There were offsetting decreases in the chemical industry (-1.5%) and the petroleum and coal product industry (-0.7%).
The inventory-to-sales ratio remained at 1.33 in April. The ratio has been trending downward since the spring of 2009.
Unfilled orders declined for the second consecutive month, falling 0.2% to $52.9 billion in April. Excluding the aerospace product and parts industry, unfilled orders increased 0.9%.
The decline in unfilled orders was largely driven by aerospace product and parts (-1.7%) and the fabricated metal industry (-3.9%).
New orders increased 0.3% to $44.4 billion in April.
Available on CANSIM: tables 304-0014, 304-0015 and 377-0008.
Table 304-0014: Canada data (sales, inventories, orders) by industry
Table 304-0015: Provincial sales by industry
Table 377-0008: Constant dollar sales, inventories and orders
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2101.
Data from the May Monthly Survey of Manufacturing will be released on July 15.
For a more detailed synopsis of the trends and indicators that affected manufacturers in 2009, the "Annual review of manufacturing" will soon be released in Analysis in Brief (11-621-M, free).
For more information, or to order data, contact the dissemination officer (toll-free 1-866-873-8789; 613-951-9497; fax: 613-951-3877; manufact@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gwen Harding (613-951-1179; gwen.harding@statcan.gc.ca), Manufacturing and Energy Division.
April 2009 | March 2010r | April 2010p | March to April 2010 | April 2009 to April 2010 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seasonally adjusted | |||||
$ millions | % change1 | ||||
Manufacturing sales (current dollars) | 40,275 | 44,409 | 44,506 | 0.2 | 10.5 |
Manufacturing sales (2002 constant dollars) | 37,958 | 41,225 | 41,193 | -0.1 | 8.5 |
Manufacturing sales excluding motor vehicles, parts and accessories (current dollars) | 35,997 | 38,878 | 39,013 | 0.3 | 8.4 |
Inventories | 63,909 | 58,921 | 59,114 | 0.3 | -7.5 |
Unfilled orders | 63,089 | 53,049 | 52,928 | -0.2 | -16.1 |
Unfilled orders excluding motor vehicles, parts and accessories | 62,212 | 52,549 | 52,273 | -0.5 | -16.0 |
New orders | 36,332 | 44,253 | 44,386 | 0.3 | 22.2 |
New orders excluding motor vehicles, parts and accessories | 32,108 | 38,744 | 38,737 | 0.0 | 20.6 |
Inventory-to-sales ratio | 1.59 | 1.33 | 1.33 | ... | ... |
Major group of industries | April 2009 | March 2010r | April 2010p | March to April 2010 | April 2009 to April 2010 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seasonally adjusted | |||||
$ millions | % change1 | ||||
Food manufacturing | 6,686 | 7,175 | 7,024 | -2.1 | 5.1 |
Beverage and tobacco product | 874 | 933 | 885 | -5.2 | 1.3 |
Textile mills | 128 | 127 | 127 | -0.4 | -1.1 |
Textile product mills | 145 | 170 | 144 | -15.3 | -0.4 |
Clothing manufacturing | 217 | 172 | 172 | 0.0 | -20.8 |
Leather and allied product | 31 | 30 | 31 | 2.7 | -1.1 |
Wood product | 1,360 | 1,596 | 1,630 | 2.1 | 19.8 |
Paper manufacturing | 2,062 | 2,127 | 2,163 | 1.7 | 4.9 |
Printing and related support activities | 764 | 715 | 704 | -1.4 | -7.7 |
Petroleum and coal product | 4,096 | 5,502 | 5,616 | 2.1 | 37.1 |
Chemical | 3,385 | 3,829 | 3,847 | 0.5 | 13.6 |
Plastics and rubber products | 1,549 | 1,723 | 1,743 | 1.2 | 12.5 |
Non-metallic mineral product | 932 | 1,146 | 1,133 | -1.1 | 21.6 |
Primary metal | 2,726 | 3,348 | 3,467 | 3.6 | 27.2 |
Fabricated metal product | 2,429 | 2,504 | 2,453 | -2.1 | 1.0 |
Machinery | 2,296 | 2,266 | 2,277 | 0.5 | -0.8 |
Computer and electronic product | 1,473 | 1,321 | 1,338 | 1.3 | -9.2 |
Electrical equipment, appliance and component | 783 | 779 | 786 | 0.9 | 0.4 |
Transportation equipment | 6,555 | 7,219 | 7,271 | 0.7 | 10.9 |
Motor vehicle | 2,828 | 3,858 | 3,819 | -1.0 | 35.0 |
Motor vehicle body and trailer | 213 | 241 | 239 | -0.5 | 12.5 |
Motor vehicle parts | 1,450 | 1,672 | 1,674 | 0.1 | 15.5 |
Aerospace product and parts | 1,709 | 1,109 | 1,188 | 7.1 | -30.5 |
Railroad rolling stock | 54 | 98 | 98 | -0.4 | 81.0 |
Ship and boat building | 96 | 104 | 112 | 7.5 | 16.8 |
Furniture and related product | 865 | 915 | 909 | -0.7 | 5.1 |
Miscellaneous manufacturing | 918 | 810 | 785 | -3.0 | -14.5 |
Non-durable goods industries | 19,938 | 22,504 | 22,457 | -0.2 | 12.6 |
Durable goods industries | 20,337 | 21,905 | 22,049 | 0.7 | 8.4 |
April 2009 | March 2010r | April 2010p | March to April 2010 | April 2009 to April 2010 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Seasonally adjusted | |||||
$ millions | % change1 | ||||
Canada | 40,275 | 44,409 | 44,506 | 0.2 | 10.5 |
Newfoundland and Labrador | 215 | 314 | 448 | 42.6 | 108.3 |
Prince Edward Island | 116 | 106 | 103 | -3.5 | -11.9 |
Nova Scotia | 703 | 776 | 776 | 0.0 | 10.4 |
New Brunswick | 1,159 | 1,375 | 1,527 | 11.1 | 31.8 |
Quebec | 10,683 | 11,010 | 11,144 | 1.2 | 4.3 |
Ontario | 18,132 | 20,516 | 20,459 | -0.3 | 12.8 |
Manitoba | 1,239 | 1,192 | 1,138 | -4.5 | -8.2 |
Saskatchewan | 889 | 996 | 1,002 | 0.6 | 12.7 |
Alberta | 4,427 | 5,117 | 4,979 | -2.7 | 12.5 |
British Columbia | 2,708 | 3,002 | 2,928 | -2.5 | 8.1 |
Yukon | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.0 | -8.8 |
Northwest Territories and Nunavut | 2 | 1 | 1 | -47.3 | -63.3 |