- Jonathan Bendiner, TD Bank economist
Canada's manufacturing sales declined in August following three monthly increases in a row, StatsCan reported. However, the decline appeared to be less than economists had predicted. Canadian manufacturing sales edged lower 0.2% to $52.1 billion in the reported month, whereas analysts had expected a decrease of 1.0%. The biggest drops came in petroleum and coal product industry, which slid 5.2%. Notable declines were also recorded in motor vehicle parts, and aerospace products. Partially offsetting these declines were strong gains in the auto assembly industry, which rose +6.7% and wood manufacturing +5.1% industries. Auto assembly sales have increased 20.6% since April, reaching its highest level of sales since March 2007.
At the same time inventories increased 0.5%, the second straight monthly rise. As a result, the inventory-to-sales ratio edged higher to 1.41 from 1.40 in July. Unfilled orders climbed0.2% while new orders were down 5.6%. Excluding the volatile aerospace category, unfilled orders added 0.1%, while the 1.0% decline in new orders was more muted.
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