Wood product sales buffer sliding September manufacturing sales

Manufacturing sales rose 0.4 percent to $72.8 billion in September, on higher sales in 10 of 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (+6.3 percent), wood (+2.9 percent), and machinery (+1.3 percent) subsectors, says Statistics Canada. The gains were partially offset by lower sales of chemicals (-1.8 percent) and motor vehicle parts (-2.6 percent). On a year-over-year basis, sales increased 3.3 percent in September.

Total manufacturing sales in constant dollars declined 0.6 percent in September, indicating a lower volume of goods sold.

Wood product sales increased 2.9 percent to $3.1 billion, the fourth consecutive monthly gain. The prices of logs, pulpwood, and other forestry products have been trending upward since June 2023, rising 3.5 percent in September. This impacted the price of lumber and other sawmill products which rose 0.4 percent in the month while their exports posted the fifth consecutive monthly gain, up 1.0 percent in the month.

Manufacturing sales rose in five provinces led by Alberta and Quebec. Ontario posted the largest decrease. Total inventories increased 1.5 percent to $123.4 billion on higher goods in process (+2.4 percent), raw material (+1.1 percent), and finished product (+1.3 percent) inventories.