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Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, June 2019

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Released: 2019-08-20

Manufacturing sales fell 1.2% to $58.0 billion in June, following a 1.6% increase in May.

Chart 1  Chart 1: Manufacturing sales
Manufacturing sales

Sales were down in 16 of 21 industries, representing 68.0% of total manufacturing sales. The petroleum and coal product and food industries accounted for most of the decline in June. The primary metal industry posted the largest increase.

After the effects of price changes were removed, manufacturing sales in volume terms decreased 0.2% in June.

For the second quarter, manufacturing sales rose 1.7% to $174.5 billion. In volume terms, manufacturing sales increased 1.8% in the second quarter, mostly as a result of higher volumes sold in the petroleum and coal products industry (+6.8%) and transportation equipment (+2.3%) industry.

Petroleum and coal products and food industries post the largest declines

Following five consecutive monthly increases, sales in the petroleum and coal product industry fell 3.8% to $6.3 billion in June. Both eastern and western refineries reported lower sales, due to lower prices. After the effects of price changes were removed, sales of petroleum and coal products in volume terms were up 1.2% in June.

In the food industry, sales decreased for the second straight month, down 2.5% to $8.7 billion in June. The declines were widespread across the majority of the food manufacturing industries but more pronounced in the meat product industry as well as in the grains and oilseed milling industry. The decline in sales of meat products in June (-11.6%), followed a 10.8% gain in May. In constant dollars, volumes sold of food products declined 2.3% in June.

Sales also decreased in the machinery (-5.6%), paper (-5.9%) and chemical (-2.9%) industries.

These decreases were partially offset by an 11.7% increase in the primary metal industry to $4.6 billion. This increase was the result of higher volumes sold and was largely attributable to higher sales in the iron and steel mills and ferro-alloy, as well as non-ferrous metal production and processing industries. After the effects of price changes were removed, sales volumes of primary metals rose 12.6% in June.

Sales decrease in eight provinces

Sales were down in eight provinces in June, led by Alberta, while Quebec reported the largest increase.

Following five consecutive months of increases, sales in Alberta fell 6.5% in June to $6.5 billion. The decline was mostly attributable to lower sales in the petroleum and coal product (-10.5%), chemical (-11.5%) and food (-6.5%) industries.

In Newfoundland and Labrador (-17.5%), Nova Scotia (-12.1%) and Manitoba (-5.8%), manufacturing sales decreased in both the non-durable and durable goods industries. All three provinces had reported gains in May.

The largest monthly increase was in Quebec, where sales rose 1.0% to $14.4 billion. This increase was mainly the result of a 16.6% increase in the primary metal industry and, to a lesser extent, gains in the transportation equipment and petroleum and coal product industries.

Inventory levels decrease

Inventory levels fell 1.5% to $87.8 billion in June, following six months of increases. Inventories were down in 15 of 21 industries, led by the transportation equipment (-4.5%), primary metal (-3.1%), petroleum and coal product (-2.1%) and paper (-3.4%) industries. These decreases were partly offset by a 2.9% increase in machinery inventories.

Chart 2  Chart 2: Inventory levels decrease
Inventory levels decrease

The inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.52 in May to 1.51 in June. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.

Chart 3  Chart 3: The inventory-to-sales ratio decreases
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreases

Unfilled orders decline

Unfilled orders fell 1.2% to $99.2 billion in June. The decrease was mainly attributable to lower unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry as well as the computer and electronic products industry.

Chart 4  Chart 4: Unfilled orders decline
Unfilled orders decline

These declines were partially offset by an increase in unfilled orders in the chemical industry.

New orders fell 4.2% to $56.8 billion in June, following a 2.8% gain the previous month. This decrease was mostly due to lower new orders in the aerospace product and parts industry, and was partially offset by higher new orders in the primary metal industry.

Capacity utilization rate

The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the manufacturing sector declined 0.9 percentage points, from 82.1% in May to 81.2% in June.

Overall, the capacity utilization rate fell in 16 of 21 industries in June, led by the chemical industry.

Chart 5  Chart 5: The capacity utilization rate declines
The capacity utilization rate declines

The capacity utilization rate for the chemical industry decreased 9.6 percentage points to 75.2% in June. The decline was primarily due to the lower capacity utilization rate in the pesticide, fertilizer and other agricultural chemical manufacturing industry.

The capacity utilization rate of the petroleum and coal product industry declined for a third consecutive month, falling 2.3 percentage points to 83.0% in June. The decrease was attributable to lower production at several refineries.

The capacity utilization rate for the primary metal industry rose 2.7 percentage points to 79.4% in June. The increase was mostly attributable to increases in the alumina and aluminum production and processing, and to a lesser extent, in the iron and steel mills and ferro-alloy industries.





Sustainable Development Goals

On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the next 15 years. The plan is based on 17 specific sustainable development goals.

The Monthly Survey of Manufacturing is an example of how Statistics Canada supports the reporting on the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. This release will be used in helping to measure the following goal:

  Note to readers

Monthly data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars unless otherwise specified.

For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions. For information on trend-cycle data, see Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.

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 and shipbuilding industries, the value of production is used instead of the value of sales of goods manufactured. The value of production is calculated by adjusting monthly sales of goods manufactured by the monthly change in inventories of goods in process and finished products manufactured. The value of production is used given the extended period of time that it normally takes to manufacture products in these industries.

Unfilled orders are a stock of orders that will contribute to future sales if 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.

Manufacturers reporting sales, inventories and unfilled orders in US dollars

Some Canadian manufacturers report sales, inventories and unfilled orders in US dollars. These data are then converted to Canadian dollars as part of the data production cycle.

For sales, which are assumed to occur throughout the month, the average exchange rate for the reference month established by the Bank of Canada is used for the conversion. The monthly average exchange rate is available in table 33-10-0163-01. Inventories and unfilled orders are reported at the end of the reference period. For most respondents, the daily average exchange rate on the last working day of the month is used for the conversion of these variables.

However, some manufacturers choose to report their data as of a day other than the last day of the month. In such cases, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent is used. As a result of exchange rate fluctuations, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent can differ from both the exchange rate on the last working day of the month and the monthly average exchange rate. Daily average exchange rate data are available in table 33-10-0036-01.

Revision policy

Each month, the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing releases preliminary data for the reference month and revised data for the previous three months. Revisions are made to reflect new information provided by respondents and updates to administrative data.

Once a year, multiple years of data are revised.

Real-time data tables

Real-time data tables 16-10-0118-01, 16-10-0119-01, 16-10-0014-01 and 16-10-0015-01 will be updated on August 27.

Next release

Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for July will be released on September 17.

Contact information

For more information, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; STATCAN.infostats-infostats.STATCAN@canada.ca).

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Bechir Oueriemmi (613-951-7938; bechir.oueriemmi@canada.ca) or Michael Schimpf (613-863-4480; michael.schimpf@canada.ca), Mining, Manufacturing and Wholesale Trade Division.

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