Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, June 2025
Released: 2025-08-15
Manufacturing sales edged up 0.3% to $68.5 billion in June, following four consecutive monthly declines. Sales rose in 13 of 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal (+11.8%) and food (+2.5%) product subsectors. These increases were partly offset by a 5.0% decline in the transportation equipment subsector. Despite the overall monthly increase, total manufacturing sales were 2.7% lower on a year-over-year basis in June.
In constant dollars, total sales were unchanged in June, while the Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.4%.
On a quarterly basis, sales declined 4.8% to $206.0 billion in the second quarter, the largest quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2020. The petroleum and coal product (-18.0%), transportation equipment (-6.5%) and primary metal (-10.6%) subsectors were the largest contributors to the decline in the second quarter of 2025. In contrast, food product sales posted the largest quarterly increase, up 0.5% to $39.1 billion.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Impact of tariffs on manufacturing activities
Feedback from respondents highlighted the impact that the recent tariffs imposed by the United States have had on Canada's manufacturing sector. According to data collected for June, approximately two-fifths of manufacturers reported being impacted by these measures. The most cited impacts included price increases, higher expenses for raw materials, shipping or labour, as well as changes in demand for products. While the precise sales lost due to the tariffs cannot be quantified, data indicate that the primary metal, machinery, fabricated metal and transportation equipment subsectors were among the most affected in June. Relative to other provinces, Ontario experienced the largest decline in sales attributable to the tariffs.
Petroleum and coal product sales drive monthly increase
Following four consecutive monthly declines, petroleum and coal sales increased 11.8% to $6.8 billion in June. The increase was driven by increased production at some refineries following maintenance shutdowns in April and May. Sales in constant dollars rose 10.7% in June. Year over year, sales of petroleum products were down 14.5% in June, and quarterly sales decreased 18.0% in the second quarter, marking the largest quarterly decline since the second quarter of 2020.
Sales in the food product subsector reached their highest level on record, up 2.5% to $13.2 billion in June 2025. The gains were most notable in the meat product industry group and the fruit and vegetable preserving and specialty food industry group. On a constant dollar basis, sales of food products rose 1.6%. Sales in the food product subsector rose 0.5% in the second quarter, the second consecutive quarterly increase.
In the transportation equipment subsector, sales declined 5.0% to $10.5 billion in June, the fourth consecutive monthly decline and the lowest level since November 2022. Lower sales of motor vehicles (-9.4%) and motor vehicle parts (-2.8%) as well as decreased production of aerospace products and parts (-4.8%) were largely responsible for the decline in June 2025. Canada's auto industry has been among the most affected by the recent implementation of US tariffs on imports of Canadian goods. Exports of motor vehicles and parts declined by 3.2% in June, while exports of aircraft, aircraft engines and parts fell by 0.9%. On a quarterly basis, transportation equipment sales decreased 6.5% in the second quarter, with motor vehicle manufacturing accounting for the largest share of this decrease.
Sales increase in four provinces, led by Quebec
Manufacturing sales rose in four provinces in June, led by Quebec. Meanwhile, Ontario posted the largest decline.
Sales in Quebec increased 3.6% to $17.7 billion in June. Gains were recorded in 10 of 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product subsector and the food product subsector (+4.4%). The end of a major shutdown at a refinery was mainly responsible for the increase in petroleum product sales in Quebec. Within the food product subsector, higher-than-typical seasonal sales of meat products drove the gain. Despite the monthly increase, year-over-year manufacturing sales in Quebec declined 2.0% in June, while quarterly sales were down 6.8% in the second quarter.
In Ontario, manufacturing sales fell 2.2% to $29.9 billion in June, the fourth consecutive monthly decrease. The decline was driven by the motor vehicle industry group (-11.3%) as well as the chemical product subsector (-12.1%). Motor vehicle production decreased in Ontario in June, as some auto assembly plants modified their production schedules in response to the tariffs imposed by the United States on Canadian exports. Meanwhile, the decline in chemical product sales was attributable to lower sales of pharmaceutical products.
Total inventories are unchanged
Total manufacturing inventories were unchanged in June, at $120.1 billion. Declines in raw material (-0.5%) and goods in process (-0.1%) inventories were offset by a 0.7% increase in inventories of finished products. The chemical (-2.1%) and petroleum and coal (-2.1%) product subsectors posted the largest inventory decreases. In contrast, inventories of machinery (+1.7%) rose the most.
Chart 2
Inventories are unchanged in June
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreased from 1.76 in May to 1.75 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
The inventory-to-sales ratio decreases in June
Unfilled orders increase
Unfilled orders rose 3.0% to $112.8 billion in June, almost entirely due to higher unfilled orders of aerospace products and parts (+6.3%). This gain was partially offset by a 3.2% decline in unfilled orders of fabricated metals.
Chart 4
Unfilled orders increase in June
Capacity utilization rate increases
The manufacturing sector's capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) rose from 78.6% in May to 79.1% in June. The most notable gains occurred in the petroleum and coal (+15.9 percentage points), plastic and rubber (+2.5 percentage points) and food (+0.6 percentage points) product subsectors. The capacity utilization rate in the transportation equipment subsector declined 1.7 percentage points during the same period.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate increases in June
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 August 29.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for July will be released on September 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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