Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, August 2024
Released: 2024-10-16
Following a 1.1% increase in July, total manufacturing sales decreased 1.3% to $69.4 billion in August, the lowest level since January 2022, mainly on lower sales in the primary metal (-6.4%) and petroleum and coal product (-3.7%) subsectors. Meanwhile, production of aerospace products and parts (+7.3%) and sales of wood products (+3.8%) increased the most. With the decrease in August, monthly sales were down 4.4% on a year-over-year basis.
Sales in constant dollars decreased 0.8% in August, while the Industrial Product Price Index declined 0.8% and the Raw Materials Price Index fell 3.1%.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Sales of primary metals decline the most
Following a 1.8% increase in July, sales in the primary metal subsector fell 6.4% to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower sales volume. In constant dollars, sales in the subsector decreased 5.0% in August. The decline was mainly attributable to lower sales of non-ferrous metals (except aluminum), partially due to their lower prices (-1.7%) in August. Weaker domestic and international demand for metals due to lower construction and manufacturing activities have pulled the prices of many primary metals lower in the past few months.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector declined 3.7% to $7.8 billion in August, on lower prices as sales in constant dollars rose 0.7% in August. Prices for refined petroleum energy products (including liquid biofuels) fell 5.8% in August, partly due to increasing concerns over global economic growth and demand, particularly in China. On a yearly basis, total sales of petroleum and coal products were down 7.9% in August.
Production of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3% to $2.7 billion in August, the second highest level on record. Despite the observed monthly fluctuations, Canada's aerospace industry has continued to show signs of strong production exceeding its pre-COVID-19 pandemic level in 2019. Hence, production increased 23.6% in August compared with the same month a year earlier.
Wood product sales rose 3.8% to $3.1 billion in August. Sales of wood products in constant dollars rose 1.9% during the same period, the fourth consecutive monthly gain. Prices of lumber and other wood products increased 2.1% in August.
Sales fall in eight provinces
Manufacturing sales declined in eight provinces in August, led by Alberta (-3.3%) and Ontario (-0.6%). Sales in Prince Edward Island increased the most (+2.3%).
Sales in Alberta decreased 3.3% to $8.3 billion in August, largely on lower sales of food (-7.1%) and petroleum and coal (-3.5%) products. Lower sales of grain and oilseed milling as well as meat products were responsible for the decline in the food product subsector. Meanwhile, the petroleum and coal product subsector contributed the most to the lower total sales observed in Edmonton (-4.7%) in August.
In Ontario, sales decreased 0.6% to $30.0 billion in August, the third consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level since January 2022. The decline was mainly driven by lower sales of motor vehicles (-2.4%) as well as petroleum and coal products (-2.8%). Extended maintenance shutdown combined with a weak demand for new motor vehicles impacted the auto industry in Ontario in August. Year over year, total sales in Ontario fell 9.0% in the month.
Sales in Prince Edward Island increased 2.3% to $297 million in August, mainly on higher sales of non-durable goods (+3.8%).
Total inventories decline
Total inventory levels fell 0.6% to $121.4 billion in August, on lower inventories in 14 of 21 subsectors, led by petroleum and coal (-3.9%) and chemical (-2.7%) products. The declines were partially offset by higher inventories in the primary metal (+2.5%) as well as wood product (+3.0%) subsectors. All three inventory components posted declines, led by raw materials (-0.7%), and followed by finished products (-0.5%), then goods in process (-0.6%) inventories.
Chart 2
Inventory levels decline
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.74 in July to 1.75 in August. 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
The inventory-to-sales ratio increases
Unfilled orders decrease
Total unfilled orders fell 0.7% to $104.6 billion in August, primarily on lower unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry group (-1.3%).
Chart 4
Unfilled orders decrease
Capacity utilization rate increases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector rose from 78.6% in July to 79.6% in August. The gain was more noticeable in the transportation equipment (+4.8 percentage points) and chemical product (+1.9 percentage points) subsectors. The increase was partially offset by lower capacity utilization rates in the primary metal (-1.7 percentage points) and petroleum and coal (-1.5 percentage points) subsectors.
Chart 5
The capacity utilization rate increases
Annual Survey of Manufacturing Industries preliminary estimates for 2023
The 2023 preliminary estimates from the Annual Survey of Manufacturing Industries indicate that revenue from goods manufactured rose 2.0% from 2022 to $882.3 billion. Total revenue is estimated to be $939.8 billion while total expenses are estimated at $840.3 billion.
Note that these advance preliminary estimates will be revised with the upcoming official release of the Annual Survey of Manufacturing Industries. For information on why the Annual Survey of Manufacturing Industries estimates may differ from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, please consult the webpage Differences between the Annual Survey of Manufacturing Industries and the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing.
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Sustainable development goals
On January 1, 2016, the world officially began implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—the United Nations' transformative plan of action that addresses urgent global challenges over the following 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 sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Monthly data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars, unless otherwise specified.
Seasonally adjusted data are data that have been modified to eliminate the effect of seasonal and calendar influences to allow for more meaningful comparisons of economic conditions from period to period. For more information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
Trend-cycle estimates are included in selected charts as a complement to the seasonally adjusted series. These data represent a smoothed version of the seasonally adjusted time series and provide information on longer-term movements, including changes in direction underlying the series. For information on trend-cycle data, see Trend-cycle estimates – Frequently asked questions.
Both seasonally adjusted data and trend-cycle estimates are subject to revision as additional observations become available. These revisions could be large and could even lead to a reversal of movement, especially for reference months near the end of the series or during periods of economic disruption.
Non-durable goods industries include food; beverage and tobacco products; textile mills; textile product mills; apparel; 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 industry groups, 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 because of 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, 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.
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, based on the assumption that they occur throughout the month, the average monthly 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 working day of the month. In these instances, the daily average exchange rate on the day selected by the respondent is used. Note that because 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, a revision project is undertaken to revise multiple years of data.
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 October 24.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for September will be released on November 15.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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