Manufacturing Sales Have Third Monthly Decline

Manufacturing sales fell 0.9 per cent to $71.6 billion in July, the third consecutive monthly decline, on lower sales in 12 of 21 industries, led by the primary metal (-9.9 per cent), petroleum and coal product (-5.3 per cent), and furniture and related products (-11.2 per cent) industries, says Statistics Canada. Sales of food (+2.5 per cent), motor vehicle parts (+10.7 per cent), and paper products (+8.1 per cent) industries increased the most. Sales in constant dollars increased 0.6 per cent, the second consecutive monthly increase, while the Industrial Product Price Index declined 2.1 per cent for the month. Sales in the furniture and related product industry fell 11.2 per cent to $1.3 billion in July, following record-high sales in June. Year over year, sales of furniture and related products increased 22.1 per cent. Wood product sales were $3.9 billion in July, down 5.1 per cent compared to July 2021. Manufacturing sales declined in five of 10 provinces in July, led by Quebec and Alberta. Meanwhile, New Brunswick posted the largest increases. New Brunswick sales increased 9.6 per cent to $2.5 billion in July, primarily on higher sales of non-durable goods (+11.7 per cent). On a year-over-year basis, total sales in New Brunswick rose 48.7 per cent in July. Total inventory levels increased 1.2 per cent to $118.1 billion in July, on higher inventories in 14 of 21 industries. The inventory-to-sales ratio increased from 1.61 in June to 1.65 in July. The total value of unfilled orders was unchanged at $106.3 billion in July.