Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, July 2025
Released: 2025-09-15
Total manufacturing sales rose 2.5% to $70.3 billion in July, following a modest 0.3% increase in June. The gain in July was mainly driven by higher sales of transportation equipment (+8.6%), petroleum and coal products (+6.2%) and primary metals (+3.5%). Meanwhile, sales of chemicals saw the largest decline, falling 2.5% in July. Despite the monthly increase, total sales were down 1.7% year over year.
On a constant dollar basis, sales were up 1.6% month over month in July, while the Industrial Product Price Index rose 0.7%.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Transportation equipment subsector posts the largest increase
Following four consecutive monthly declines, sales of transportation equipment rebounded by 8.6% to $11.4 billion in July. The increase was primarily driven by higher sales of motor vehicles (+11.4%) and motor vehicle parts (+7.2%) as well as increased production of aerospace products and parts (+6.5%). While July typically sees planned temporary shutdowns at motor vehicle assembly plants in Ontario, the impact of these seasonal closures was less pronounced this year due to the continued production slowdown, influenced by factors such as the new tariffs imposed by the United States. Exports of motor vehicles and parts rose 6.7% in July. In the aerospace product and parts industry group, some manufacturers outperformed seasonal norms in July, indicating stronger-than-usual production activities and strong demand.
Sales of petroleum and coal products rose 6.2% to $7.2 billion in July, following an 11.6% increase in June. The growth in July was largely driven by the continued ramp-up in refined petroleum production, following maintenance shutdowns at several refineries in April and May. Sales in constant dollars of petroleum and coal products increased 4.5% in July. Despite the overall gain in July, year-over-year sales were down 12.7%.
Sales increase in seven provinces
Sales rose in seven provinces in July, led by Ontario and Quebec. Manitoba posted the largest decline.
In Ontario, sales increased 2.8% to $30.6 billion in July, on higher sales in 11 of the 21 subsectors. The gain was primarily driven by increased sales in the transportation equipment (+11.4%) and petroleum and coal product (+7.9%) subsectors. Within the transportation equipment subsector, higher sales of motor vehicles (+14.1%) and motor vehicle parts (+7.6%) as well as higher production of aerospace products and parts (+12.7%) contributed the most to the increase. The rebound in the motor vehicle industry group in July followed five consecutive monthly declines, partly due to reduced production schedules amid uncertainty surrounding new US tariffs. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in Ontario declined 0.4% in July.
Sales in Quebec rose 3.4% to $18.4 billion in July, mainly on higher sales of primary metals (+6.2%) and production of aerospace products and parts (+8.3%). In the primary metal subsector, sales of non-ferrous metals (except aluminum) reached their highest level on record in July, due to higher prices and demand. Exports of basic and semi-finished products of non-ferrous metals and non-ferrous metal alloys (except aluminum) were up 19.3% in July. The gains were partially offset by reduced sales of the alumina and aluminum production and processing industry group. With the increase in July, total sales in Quebec were 0.2% higher compared with the same month last year.
Total inventories increase
Total manufacturing inventories increased 0.8% to $121.2 billion in July, on higher inventories of goods in process (+2.0%) and raw materials (+1.0%). Finished product inventories declined 0.5%. Higher inventories of machinery (+3.8%) and petroleum and coal products (+2.6%) were partially offset by a 10.3% decrease in inventories in the miscellaneous manufacturing subsector.
Chart 2
Total inventories increase in July
The inventory-to-sales ratio fell from 1.75 in June to 1.72 in July. 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 decreases in July
Unfilled orders edged down
Total unfilled orders edged down 0.1% to $112.3 billion in July, largely due to lower unfilled orders in the miscellaneous manufacturing (-14.1%) and plastic and rubber products (-9.0%) subsectors.
Chart 4
Unfilled orders edged down in July
Capacity utilization rate decreases
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector decreased from 78.9% in June to 78.3% in July. The most noticeable declines were observed in the chemical (-6.2 percentage points) and transportation equipment (-4.2 percentage points) subsectors. The capacity utilization rate rose 6.4 percentage points in the petroleum and coal product subsector during the same period.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate decreases in July
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 16-10-0014-01 and 16-10-0015-01 will be updated on September 25.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for August will be released on October 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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