- Emanuella Enenajor, an economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Canada factory sales decelerated at the fastest pace in more than three years in April, due to lower sales in the petroleum and coal product, the Statistics Canada said Friday. Sales plunged 2.4% to C$48.2 billion ($47.4 billion), while inventories jumped to the highest since records began in 1992. The report also showed that sales turned lower in 13 of 21 industries, representing around 86% of manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, sales of durable goods declined 1.6%, while sales of non-durable goods fell 3.2% from the previous month.
The main factor for such a weak performance was a drop in sales of petroleum and coal, which tumbled 8.8% to C$6.26 billion, the lowest since June 2011, Statistics Canada said. Even despite a slowdown, a report published earlier this month showed that the nation's economic output grew at a 2.5% annualized pace during the January-March period, accelerating from a 0.9% growth in the fourth quarter of 2012 and outpacing analysts' expectations of 2.3% expansion. During the latest monthly policy meeting, a Governor of the Bank of Canada Mark Carney kept the main interest rate unchanged and noticed that tighter policy may be needed soon as the economic expansion progresses.
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