Canada October 2019 manufacturing sales
- Prior was -0.2% (unrevised)
- Sales down in 11 of 21 industries
- Sales of durable goods -2.4%
- Non-durable goods +1.3%
- Transportation equipment -3.1%
- Inventories -0.4%
The decline was mainly attributable to lower sales in the motor vehicle assembly (-4.7%) and motor vehicle parts (-4.6%) industries.
"This reflected lower activity at some assembly plants as well as at several parts plants which were impacted by the United Auto Workers strike in the United States," Statistics Canada said in the release.
Fabricated metals were also particularly soft, falling 8.2%. A bright spot was in the petroleum and coal products industry where sales rose 6.2% after four consecutive monthly declines.
Canadian inventory levels remain elevated with the inventory-to-sales ratio remaining above 1.5.
