Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, February 2025
Released: 2025-04-15
Total manufacturing sales increased 0.2% to $72.9 billion in February, marking the fifth consecutive monthly gain and the highest level since September 2023. Sales rose in 11 of the 21 subsectors in February 2025, led by the primary metal (+8.3%) and chemical product (+6.7%) subsectors. Petroleum and coal product sales (-5.2%) posted the largest decline. On a year-over-year basis, total manufacturing sales rose 2.1% in February.
On a constant dollar basis, sales were unchanged in February, while the Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.4%.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Sales increase the most in the primary metal subsector
Sales of primary metals reached a record high, rising 8.3% to $6.9 billion in February. In constant dollars, sales rose 6.9% during the same period, suggesting the gain was driven by higher prices and increased volume. Higher demand and prices for many non-ferrous metals, including alumina and aluminum products, were responsible for the increase. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in the primary metal subsector were 29.8% higher in February.
Following a 7.9% decline in January, chemical product sales rebounded by 6.7%, reaching $5.3 billion in February. The increase was partially due to higher sales of basic chemicals, as several plants restarted operations in February. Despite the monthly gain in February, total sales in the chemical products subsector were down 2.6% compared with February of the previous year.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 5.2% to $8.1 billion in February, following four consecutive monthly increases. This decline was driven by lower demand and, to a lesser extent, lower prices, as sales on a constant dollar basis decreased 4.2%. Exports of refined petroleum energy products (including liquid biofuels) were down 15.4% in February.
Sales increase in four provinces
Sales rose in four provinces in February, with Ontario and Quebec showing the largest increases. Alberta posted the largest decline.
Ontario's sales increased 3.0% to $32.0 billion in February, marking the largest month-over-month increase since May 2023. The chemical product (+12.8%) and transportation equipment (+2.2%) subsectors were the biggest contributors to the increase in February 2025. In the chemical products subsector, higher sales of resin, synthetic rubber, and artificial and synthetic fibres and filaments drove the gain. Meanwhile, the transportation equipment subsector benefitted from increased sales of motor vehicle parts (+3.1%). Exports of motor vehicle engines and parts rose by 8.0% in February.
In Quebec, sales increased 0.7% to $19.3 billion in February, almost entirely from higher sales of primary metals, which rose 12.9% to $3.9 billion in February. The growth was largely due to higher sales in the non-ferrous metal (except aluminum) production and processing industry group.
Following two consecutive monthly gains, manufacturing sales in Alberta decreased 3.0% to $8.6 billion in February, largely due to lower sales in the petroleum and coal (-5.1%) and food (-4.3%) product subsectors. The decline in February was mainly attributable to lower demand and prices for petroleum as well as reduced sales of meat products. Oil prices fell in February, partly due to concerns over the global economic outlook and escalating trade tensions related to tariffs. Year over year, total sales in Alberta decreased 1.7% in February.
Total inventories increase
Total manufacturing inventories rose 0.8% to $122.0 billion in February, reaching the highest level since January 2024. All inventory components saw increases in February 2025, with raw materials (+0.9%) posting the largest gain, followed by finished products (+1.1%) and goods-in-process (+0.2%). Inventories in 12 of the 21 subsectors rose, led by the miscellaneous (+10.2%) and machinery (+1.9%) subsectors. The gain was partially offset by a 5.0% decline in inventories of petroleum and coal products.
Chart 2
Inventory levels increase in February
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.66 in January to 1.67 in February. This ratio measures the time, in months, required to exhaust inventories if sales remain at their current level.
Chart 3
The inventory-to-sales ratio increases in February
Unfilled orders decrease
Total unfilled orders decreased 0.5% to $107.1 billion in February, mainly on lower unfilled orders of aerospace products and parts (-0.5%) and other transportation equipment. Meanwhile, unfilled orders in the motor vehicle industry group (+2.7%) increased the most.
Chart 4
Unfilled orders decrease in February
Capacity utilization rate decreases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector decreased from 78.7% in January to 77.3% in February. The decline was most noticeable in the petroleum and coal (-7.9 percentage points), chemical (-2.4 percentage points) and fabricated metal (-7.9 percentage points) subsectors. Meanwhile, the capacity utilization rate of machinery manufacturing rose 3.8 percentage points in February.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate decreases in February
Focus on Canada and the United States
The United States is important for Canadian manufactured products, serving as Canada's largest export market. In 2024, Canadian manufacturers sold about half of their products to foreign customers, with roughly 80% of those exports going to the United States. The transportation equipment and food product subsectors were the top exporters. Notably, in 2024, Canadian transportation equipment manufacturers sold approximately two-thirds of their products to the United States, which accounted for roughly one-quarter of total exports of manufactured products to the United States.
For more data and insights on areas touched by the socio-economic relationship between Canada and the United States, see the Focus on Canada and the United States webpage.
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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. Statistics Canada will release revised monthly manufacturing data on May 15, in accordance with standard practices. Estimates of sales of goods manufactured, inventories and orders in tables 16-10-0047-01, 16-10-0048-01 and 16-10-0011-01 will be revised back to January 2022 for unadjusted data and back to January 2020 for seasonally adjusted data.
Real manufacturing sales, orders, inventory owned and inventory-to-sales ratio estimates in table 16-10-0013-01 will be revised back to January 2020.
Unadjusted estimates of capacity utilization rates, in table 16-10-0012-01, will be revised back to January 2022.
Starting with the March reference month, as part of the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, data on cannabis will be released. The data series goes back to January 2022 and will be included in tables 16-10-0047-01 and 16-10-0048-01.
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 April 24.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for March will be released on May 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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