Canada. Manufacturing sales up

Manufacturing sales rose 1.6% in December to $43.0 billion. The gains were mostly concentrated in the transportation equipment industry. This was the sixth increase in overall manufacturing sales in seven months and the highest level since December 2008.

Gains in the aerospace product and parts, the motor vehicle and the petroleum and coal product industries were largely responsible for December's increase.

Constant dollar manufacturing sales increased 2.1% in December.

Sales advanced in 11 of the 21 manufacturing industries for December.

Manufacturing sales advance in several industries
Production in the aerospace product and parts industry rose 28.1%, following a 17.1% decline in November. Recently, the aerospace product and parts industry has been volatile compared with the overall manufacturing sector.

Sales in the motor vehicle industry increased 4.4% in December to $3.6 billion. Sales have been rising since January 2009.

The petroleum and coal products industry reported a sales increase of 2.4% in December. The gain reflected greater sales volumes reported by several refineries.

The advance in overall manufacturing was partially offset by a 6.4% decline in the non-metallic mineral product industry.

Sales increase in most provinces
In December, eight provinces showed stronger manufacturing sales.

The largest gain was in Ontario, where sales increased by $438 million in December to $19.8 billion. The motor vehicle, primary metal and miscellaneous manufacturing industries led the provincial increase.

Production-based industries

For the aerospace industry and shipbuilding industries, the value of production is used instead of sales of goods manufactured. This value is calculated by adjusting monthly sales of goods manufactured by the monthly change in inventories of goods in process and finished products manufactured.

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.

New Brunswick reported an increase in sales of $156 million (+13.0%) in December. This was the third monthly rise after a 26.1% drop in September.

Manufacturing activity increased by $56 million (+5.0%) in Manitoba. The increase reverses a 4.2% drop in November.

Manufacturing sales decreased 2.3% in British Columbia, reflecting declines in both the primary metals and wood products industries.

Inventories post widespread declines

Inventory levels declined 1.0% in December to $59.0 billion. This was the 10th monthly decline in 2009, leaving inventories 11.3% lower than December 2008 levels. Inventory decreases were widespread across the manufacturing sector, as levels contracted in 17 of 21 industries.

A 3.3% rise in petroleum and coal products inventories only partially offset the declines in other industries. The increase reflected higher inventory volumes at several refineries as prices for the industry declined 1.8% according to the Industrial Price Product Index.

The inventory-to-sales ratio declined for the fifth time in seven months, reaching 1.37 in December. December's level is close to more normal levels for the ratio seen before November 2008.

Unfilled orders rise

In December, unfilled orders rose 2.3% to $52.4 billion following five consecutive monthly declines. A 4.1% increase in unfilled orders in the transportation equipment industry was mostly responsible for the overall gain in manufacturing. Total unfilled orders for the manufacturing sector were 24.8% below the level in December 2008.

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