Canada's manufacturing sales surge in July, exports set to pick up

Manufacturing sales in Canada increased more than projected in July, calming market concerns over the nation's economic outlook. According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 2.5%, which was well ahead of expectations for a 1% gain. Moreover, manufacturing sales for June were revised upwards to 0.9% from previously registered gain of 0.6%. Factory shipments have been moving upwards since January. The jump in July was largely attributable to higher sales in the transportation equipment, which rose to the highest dollar value since April 2007, up 10.3% to $10.1 billion, and primary metal industries.

Moreover, yesterday the Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz gave a speech, in which he pointed on rising exports volumes. International deliveries of Canadian goods have just recovered to pre-crisis levels and are most likely to continue gaining traction. According to Poloz, exports should become the main driver of Canada's economic growth, as it makes around third of national economic output. However, he ruled out any possibility of manipulations with exchange rate of the Loonie to boost exports, underlying importance of free market. Intervention will only be possible in case of market failures. At the same time, Poloz admitted that the Canadian Dollar is presently 40% more expensive than it was in early 2000s.