Chemicals lead November manufacturing sales

Canadian manufacturing sales increased 1.2 percent to $71.7 billion in November, mainly on higher sales in the chemical (+6.6 percent), primary metal (+4.0 percent), and machinery (+4.3 percent) subsectors, says Statistics Canada. Sales in the motor vehicle industry group (-4.0 percent) declined the most. On a year-over-year basis, total sales were down 0.8 percent in November. 

Following three consecutive monthly declines, sales of chemical products rose 6.6 percent to $5.6 billion in November, on higher volume of sales (+10.1 percent). Primary metal product sales rose 4.0 percent to $5.6 billion in November, mainly on higher volumes (+3.9 percent). Sales of motor vehicles fell 4.0 percent to $5.2 billion, the second consecutive monthly decline.  

Manufacturing sales increased in seven provinces in November, led by Ontario and Quebec, while New Brunswick recorded the largest decline. Total inventories rose 0.5 percent to $124.2 billion, the highest level on record, driven by higher goods in process (+1.1 percent) and finished product (+0.6 percent) inventories. The inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.74 in October to 1.73 in November. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.