Gross domestic product by industry, February 2025
Released: 2025-04-30
February 2025
-0.2% 
(monthly change)
Real gross domestic product (GDP) was down 0.2% in February, partly offsetting January's 0.4% increase.
Chart 1
Real gross domestic product down in February
After driving growth in January, goods-producing industries (-0.6%) drove the decline in February, as mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction and construction contributed the most to the aggregate's decline.
Services-producing industries edged down 0.1% in February as contractions in transportation and warehousing and real estate and rental and leasing were partially offset by a rise in finance and insurance. Overall, 12 of 20 industrial sectors declined in February.
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector contracts after strong January
Following two consecutive monthly increases, the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector became the largest detractor from growth, down 2.5% in February, as most subsectors contracted.
Chart 2
Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction down in February
Oil and gas extraction contracted 2.8% in February, fully offsetting January's 2.6% expansion. February's decline was a result of broad-based declines across subsectors.
Oil sands extraction contributed the most to the decline with a 3.8% contraction in February. Lower crude bitumen extraction and synthetic crude production resulted in the largest monthly contraction in the industry since January 2024.
Oil and gas extraction (except oil sands) decreased 1.8% in February because of lower crude petroleum extraction as well as lower natural gas extraction. Crude petroleum extraction contributed the most to the decline, impacted by lower light and heavy crude extraction in Alberta as well as lower offshore production in Newfoundland and Labrador. Harsh weather in the North Atlantic ocean and a collision between an oil tanker and a transhipment terminal in Newfoundland and Labrador curtailed production in February.
Mining and quarrying (except oil and gas) declined 2.6% in February, more than offsetting the increases registered in the previous two months. Coal mining (-14.8%) contributed the most to the decline, recording its largest monthly contraction since March 2022, and coinciding with reduced exports to Asian markets. Metal ore mining (-2.5%) continued to decrease in February 2025, impacted by the second consecutive monthly declines in copper, nickel, lead and zinc ore mining (-4.5%), other metal ore mining (-7.7%) and iron ore mining (-2.1%). Meanwhile, broad-based increases in non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying (+2.7%) tempered the decline, buoyed up by a 3.5% rise in potash mining.
Construction down on a broad-based decline in activity
Chart 3
Construction activity slides for the first time in four months in February
Construction (-0.5%) contracted for the first time in four months as most types of construction activities were down in February.
Residential building construction (-0.9%) contributed the most to the decline in February, recording its largest decrease since April 2024 and reflecting lower home alterations and improvements activity coupled with lower construction of single-family and row houses.
Engineering and other construction activities (-0.6%) and repair construction (-0.8%) also contributed to the decline in the sector, while non-residential building construction (+0.6%) expanded for the seventh consecutive month as both public and industrial building construction rose in February.
Real estate and rental and leasing down for the second time in three months
The real estate and rental and leasing sector contracted 0.4% in February, posting its largest decline since April 2022.
Chart 4
Activity at the offices of real estate agents and brokers and activities related to real estate falls for a third consecutive month in February
Activity at the offices of real estate agents and brokers and activities related to real estate (-10.4%), down for a third consecutive month, contributed the most to the decline in the real estate sector in February. This third consecutive monthly decline pushed activity down to levels last seen in December 2023 as home resale activity in many markets across the country continued to cool.
The legal services industry, which derives much of its activity from real estate transactions, contracted 1.4% in February, down for the third consecutive month.
Manufacturing up on durable goods manufacturing
The manufacturing sector rose 0.6% in February, up for the second month in a row, in large part driven by durable-goods manufacturing industries in February.
Machinery manufacturing (+5.9%) contributed the most to the increase in the durable goods manufacturing aggregate and posted its highest increase since February 2023. The transportation equipment manufacturing subsector rose 0.7% in February, with motor vehicle parts manufacturing (+4.2%) contributing the most to the increase and coinciding with higher exports of motor vehicle engines and parts. Tempering the growth were declines in primary metal manufacturing (-2.3%), as well as wood product manufacturing (-1.3%), driven by a decrease in sawmills and wood preservation manufacturing and coinciding with a decline in exports of lumber and other sawmill products.
Adverse weather weighs on transportation and warehousing
Transportation and warehousing contracted 1.1% in February, following two consecutive monthly gains. Major snowstorms that hit Central and Eastern Canada and storms passing through British Columbia adversely impacted the sector in February.
Transit, ground passenger, scenic and sightseeing transportation fell 3.4% in February, with urban transit usage falling as poor road conditions in some of Canada's largest urban centres limited activity for some days in the month.
Rail transportation (-5.6%) declined for the first time in three months in February, as commuter train cancellations, and capacity and speed reductions by rail carriers due to severe winter conditions all contributed to the decrease. February's decline marked the largest drop since August 2024, when work stoppages at Canada's two main rail carriers disrupted operations.
Chart 5
Rail transportation declines in February
Finance and insurance up for the third month in a row
The finance and insurance sector increased 0.7% in February, rising for the third consecutive month. Financial investment services, funds, and other financial vehicles drove the increase with a 2.7% rise in February. Increased financial market activity amid escalating trade tensions drove the increase in the subsector, coinciding with a large divestment of Canadian shares from non-residents in the month.
Banking, monetary authorities and other depository credit intermediation edged up 0.1% in February as increases in demand deposits more than offset the decline in fixed-term deposits at chartered banks. Fixed-term deposits, which had trended upward since the beginning of 2022, began to trend downward in the second half of 2024 in the context of the Bank of Canada's interest rate cuts that began in June 2024. Meanwhile, activity in demand deposits rose as people reallocated their investments in response to changing interest rates.
Chart 6
Main industrial sectors' contribution to the percent change in gross domestic product in February
Advance estimate for real gross domestic product by industry for March 2025
Advance information indicates that real GDP increased 0.1% in March. Increases in mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction, retail trade and transportation and warehousing were partially offset by decreases in manufacturing and wholesale trade. Owing to its preliminary nature, this estimate will be updated on May 30, 2025, with the release of the official GDP by industry data for March.
With this advance estimate for March, information on real GDP by industry suggests that the economy expanded 0.4% in the first quarter of 2025. The official estimate for the first quarter will be available on May 30, 2025, when the official estimate of real GDP by income and expenditure is released.
Focus on Canada and the United States
Canada's exposure to the US market: Spotlight on transportation equipment manufacturing
The impact of international trade on the Canadian economy can be analyzed using the Value-Added in Exports database, which provides data on the direct and indirect impact of exports on gross domestic product (GDP) and jobs by industry. As described in the document "Value-added exports: measurement framework," direct impacts refer to the jobs or GDP generated within the exporting industry itself, while indirect impacts pertain to the jobs or GDP created through the demand for the industry's products by other exporting industries. An industry's output attributed to foreign demand refers to the jobs and GDP generated through both direct and indirect impacts.
For instance, in the steel industry, direct jobs due to exports are those required to produce the industry's exports. Indirect jobs, on the other hand, are those in the steel industry needed to supply products to the exports of other industries, such as car parts manufacturing and aerospace manufacturing.
The Value-Added in Exports database covers the period from 2007 to 2023 and is derived from the supply and use tables. Due to their comprehensive nature and availability of data sources, these tables are published with a two-year lag.
The manufacturing sector is one of the industrial sectors with the highest exposure to the US market, relying on demand from the United States for 42% of its output and 41% of its workforce in 2023. Transportation equipment manufacturing was one of the manufacturing subsectors that relied the most on exports to the United States, with 52% of its output attributed to direct exports to the United States and 61% of its output (see Infographic 1) attributed to total demand from the United States. Similarly, 63% of the workforce in the transportation equipment manufacturing subsector was attributed to total demand from the United States.
Within this subsector, the motor vehicle manufacturing and the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industries were by far the industries with the highest reliance on exports to the United States. The motor vehicle manufacturing industry relied on demand from the United States for 82% of its output (see Infographic 2) and 81% of the industry's jobs. The motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry relied on demand from the United States for 77% of its output and 76% of the industry's jobs. In contrast to the motor vehicle manufacturing industry where reliance on US demand is almost entirely in the form of direct exports, the motor vehicle parts manufacturing industry relied on demand from the United States through a combination of direct exports (53% of output and 51% of employment) and indirect exports (24% of output and 25% of employment) as parts produced were also embedded in other exports, such as motor vehicles.
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.
Infographic 1
Manufacturing subsectors export dependency on the United States (share of value added by subsector attributed to direct exports and indirect exports to the United States), 2023
Infographic 2
Export dependency on the United States: Spotlight on the transportation equipment manufacturing subsector (share of value-added by industry attributed to direct exports and indirect exports to the United States), 2023
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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 release on gross domestic product by industry is an example of how Statistics Canada supports monitoring the progress of global sustainable development goals. This release will be used to help measure the following goal:
Note to readers
Monthly data on gross domestic product (GDP) by industry at basic prices are chained volume estimates with 2017 as the reference year. This means that the data for each industry and each aggregate are obtained from a chained volume index multiplied by the industry's value added in 2017. The monthly data are benchmarked to annually chained Fisher volume indexes of GDP obtained from the constant-price supply and use tables (SUTs) up to the latest SUT year (2021).
For the period starting in January 2022, data are derived by chaining a fixed-weight Laspeyres volume index to the prior period. The fixed weights are 2021 industry prices.
Statistics Canada also produces expenditure-based GDP estimates at market prices, which are chained quarterly based on a Fisher volume index. Due to conceptual and statistical differences, GDP by industry and GDP by expenditure percent change estimates can diverge slightly.
All data in this release are seasonally adjusted. For information on seasonal adjustment, see Seasonally adjusted data – Frequently asked questions.
An advance estimate of industrial production for March 2025 is available upon request.
For more information on GDP, see the video "What is Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?".
Revisions
Each month, newly available administrative and survey data from various industries in the economy are integrated, resulting in statistical revisions. Updated and revised administrative data (including taxation statistics), new information provided by respondents to industry surveys, and standard changes to seasonal adjustment calculations are incorporated with each release.
With this release of monthly GDP by industry, revisions have been made back to January 2024.
To satisfy the opposing goals for both timeliness and accuracy, Statistics Canada regularly updates (revises) its estimates of GDP. For more information about GDP revisions cycles, please consult the "Revisions to Canada's GDP" article in the Latest Developments in the Canadian Economic Accounts (13-605-X).
Real-time table
Real-time table 36-10-0491-01 will be updated on May 12.
Next release
Data on real GDP by industry for March 2025 will be released on May 30, including an advance estimate for the April 2025 reference month.
Products
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is also available.
The Economic accounts statistics portal, accessible from the Subjects module of the Statistics Canada website, features an up-to-date portrait of national and provincial economies and their structure.
Contact information
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