Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, April 2025
Released: 2025-06-13
Total manufacturing sales declined 2.8% to $69.6 billion in April, the largest month-over-month decrease since October 2023 and the lowest level since January 2022. Lower sales of petroleum and coal products (-10.9%), motor vehicles (-8.3%), and primary metals (-4.4%) contributed the most to the decline in April 2025. Excluding the petroleum and coal product subsector, total manufacturing sales were down 1.8%. On a year-over-year basis, total manufacturing sales fell 2.7% in April.
On a constant dollar basis, sales decreased 1.8% in April, while the Industrial Product Price Index was down 0.8%.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Impact of tariffs on manufacturing activities
Feedback from respondents highlighted the impact of the recent tariffs imposed by the United States on Canada's manufacturing sector. According to data collected from manufacturing establishments for April, approximately half of manufacturers reported being affected by the tariffs through various channels. Notably, one-third cited price increases, one-quarter experienced increased expenses for raw materials, shipping or labour, and one-fifth observed changes in demand for products. Although the precise effects of the tariffs on manufacturing sales are difficult to quantify, the data indicate that the transportation equipment (including motor vehicles), primary metal, and fabricated metal subsectors were among the most affected. On the provincial level, Ontario saw the largest decline in sales attributed to the tariffs in April.
Petroleum and coal product subsector leads the decline
Sales of petroleum and coal products fell 10.9% to $6.8 billion in April, reaching their lowest level since August 2021. In constant dollars, sales declined 6.9% in April 2025, indicating that the decline was driven by both lower prices and reduced volumes. The decline in sales of petroleum products was primarily attributed to concerns over the impact of the trade tensions on global economic growth, which led to lower energy prices, as well as maintenance shutdowns at several major refineries. On a year-over-year basis, petroleum product sales in current dollars were down 17.5% in April.
In the motor vehicle industry group, sales fell 8.3% to $4.4 billion in April, marking the third consecutive monthly decline and the largest monthly decrease in dollar terms since December 2023. The decrease in April 2025 was partly due to weaker demand for certain auto models. Additionally, several assembly plants in Ontario partially shut down operations amid uncertainty related to tariffs imposed on motor vehicle exports to the United States. As a result, exports of motor vehicles and parts declined 21.1% in April.
Following a 6.8% decline in March, primary metal sales fell 4.4% to $5.6 billion in April. Sales declined across all primary metal industry groups, with the largest drop seen in alumina and aluminum production and processing. In constant dollars, primary metal sales decreased 1.7%. The decline was partly driven by the recent US tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from Canada. Meanwhile, total exports of unwrought aluminum and aluminum alloys dropped by 34.5% in April.
Sales decline in eight provinces
Sales decreased in eight provinces in April, with Quebec and Ontario reporting the largest declines.
In Quebec, sales fell 5.0% to $17.5 billion in April, the fourth consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level since January 2024. Sales were down in 16 of 21 subsectors in April 2025, led by a sharp decline in petroleum and coal products, followed by primary metals. Maintenance shutdown at a major refinery was the main factor behind the fall in petroleum sales, while reduced sales of alumina and aluminum products contributed to the decline in the primary metal subsector. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in Quebec were 4.9% lower compared to April 2024.
In Ontario, manufacturing sales declined 2.4% to $31.0 billion in April, the largest decrease in dollars since March 2024. The decline was primarily driven by lower sales in the motor vehicle industry group (-8.3%) and in the petroleum and coal product subsector (-7.1%). Most auto assembly plants in the province reported reduced sales in April, with some partially halting operations in response to uncertainty caused by new tariffs imposed by the United States.
Total inventories decline
Total manufacturing inventories fell 1.0% to $119.0 billion in April, reaching the lowest level since July 2022. All inventory components decreased in April 2025, with finished product inventories posting the largest decline (-1.3%), followed by inventories of raw materials (-0.9%) and goods-in-process (-0.6%). Inventories fell in 9 of the 21 subsectors, led by the primary metal (-3.9%), petroleum and coal (-5.9%), and transportation equipment (-2.1%) subsectors. In contrast, total inventories of wood products (+3.0%) increased the most during the month.
Chart 2
Inventories decline in April
The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.68 in March to 1.71 in April. 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 April
Unfilled orders decrease
Total unfilled orders decreased 1.1% to $108.9 billion in April, largely on lower unfilled orders of aerospace products and parts (-1.6%).
Chart 4
Unfilled orders decrease in April
Capacity utilization rate decreases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector decreased from 80.1% in March to 77.7% in April. The most significant decreases were observed in the petroleum and coal (-18.7 percentage points), transportation equipment (-2.6 percentage points), and wood product (-3.1 percentage points) subsectors. Meanwhile, the capacity utilization rate in the non-metallic mineral subsector rose 6.3 percentage points.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate decreases in April
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 using 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 June 23.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for May will be released on July 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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