Monthly Survey of Manufacturing, April 2026
Released: 2026-06-15
Total manufacturing sales rose 4.2% to $77.1 billion in April, following a 3.4% increase in March. Sales rose in 17 of the 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (+22.6%) and food (+2.9%) subsectors. Sales of primary metals (-4.6%) declined the most. Total manufacturing sales excluding petroleum and coal products were up 1.4% on a month-over-month basis in April, while they increased 10.6% on a year-over-year basis.
In constant dollars, total manufacturing sales rose 1.8% in April, while the Industrial Product Price Index increased 2.0%.
Petroleum and coal product subsector leads the sales increase in the manufacturing sector
Petroleum and coal product sales reached another record high in April, rising 22.6% to $11.8 billion, following a 25.5% increase in March. The gain was driven primarily by higher volumes, as sales in constant dollars rose 17.5% in April. Several refineries ramped up production after maintenance shutdowns in March. In addition, the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route for oil, continued to exert upward pressure on energy and petroleum product prices in April, reflecting heightened supply concerns in international markets. On a year-over-year basis, petroleum product sales in current dollars were up 77.1% in April. Meanwhile, exports of refined petroleum energy products (including liquid biofuels) increased 56.3% month over month.
Sales of food products reached their record high, rising 2.9% to $13.9 billion in April. Sales in constant dollars were up 2.4%. Higher sales of grain and oilseed milling contributed the most to the increase. On a year-over-year basis, total sales of food in current dollars increased 5.9%.
In the primary metal subsector, sales fell 4.6% to $6.3 billion in April, following a 0.7% decline in March. Sales decreased in all primary metal industry groups, except foundries, with the largest decline observed in the non-ferrous metal (excluding aluminum) production and processing industry group. Sales of non-ferrous metals had reached a record high in March. Total sales of primary metal in constant dollars were down 6.4% in April.
Chart 1
Manufacturing sales
Alberta posts the largest increase in manufacturing sales
Sales in the manufacturing sector rose in seven provinces in April, led by Alberta and followed by Quebec. Meanwhile, Manitoba posted the largest decline.
Sales in Alberta rose 16.7% to $10.5 billion in April, the highest level on record. Gains were reported in 15 of the 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (+33.1%), food (+22.4%) and chemical (+8.6%) subsectors. Within food manufacturing, the increase was driven by the grain and oilseed milling as well as the meat product industry groups, while the rise in chemical manufacturing sales was largely attributable to increased sales in resin, synthetic rubber, and artificial and synthetic fibres and filaments manufacturing. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in Alberta rose 23.2% in April.
In Quebec, sales rose 4.2% to $20.0 billion in April, the highest level on record, driven largely by higher sales of petroleum and coal products (+24.8%). In contrast, the computer and electronic product subsector posted the largest decline (-15.5%), following six consecutive monthly gains. On a year-over-year basis, total sales in Quebec increased 12.4% in April.
Manitoba recorded the largest decrease in sales in April, down 6.1% to $2.3 billion. This decrease was mainly driven by lower production of aerospace products and parts, along with reduced sales of chemicals. Despite the month-over-month decline, total sales in Manitoba were 10.5% higher in April compared with the same month a year earlier.
Total inventories increase
Total inventories rose 0.5% to $125.0 billion in April, with increases in 13 of the 21 subsectors, led by the machinery (+2.2%), petroleum and coal products (+2.7%), and transportation equipment (+0.8%) subsectors. The overall gain was driven by higher inventories of goods in process (+1.4%) and finished products (+0.7%), while raw material inventories edged down 0.1% in April.
Chart 2
Total inventories increase in April
The inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.68 in March to 1.62 in April, the lowest since January 2023. 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 April
Unfilled orders increase
Unfilled orders reached another record high in April, rising 1.3% to $123.2 billion. The increase was driven mainly by higher unfilled orders in the transportation equipment (+1.1%) and primary metal (+15.3%) subsectors. These gains were partially offset by a decline of 3.5% in unfilled orders of fabricated metal products.
Chart 4
Unfilled orders increase in April
Capacity utilization rate declines
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector fell from 81.8% in March to 80.6% in April. The declines were most pronounced in the petroleum and coal product (-4.2 percentage points), primary metal (-3.8 percentage points) and machinery (-2.4 percentage points) subsectors. In contrast, the capacity utilization rate in the non-metallic mineral product subsector rose 4.4 percentage points during the same period.
Chart 5
Capacity utilization rate decreases in April
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 the page Seasonal adjustment: Concepts and interpretation, 2026.
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 the page Trend-cycle estimation: Concepts, interpretation, and calculation, 2026.
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.
Advance indicator
Statistics Canada will provide an advance estimate of sales in the manufacturing sector for May 2026 on June 24.
Next release
Data from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for May 2026 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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