Posted March 16, 2010
Canadian manufacturers up 2.4%
Manufacturing sales in Canada rose 2.4% in January to $44.6 billion, according to Statistics Canada.
With this gain, sales have advanced for five consecutive months.
Sales gains were broadly based in January, with 17 of 21 industries reporting increases compared with December. Some of the larger gains included advances in primary metals, and petroleum and coal products.
Constant dollar manufacturing sales increased 2.2% in January, reaching the highest sales level since November 2008.
Primary metal manufacturers led the gains, up 8.5% compared with December. The increase in January was partly due to a rise in production after several plants were shutdown during December.
Sales of plastic and rubber products advanced 5.6%. The petroleum and coal products industry reported a sales increase of 3.4%, while the transportation equipment industry was one of only four industries to report weaker sales in January. The decrease was led by aerospace product and parts production, which declined 3.4% in January, giving back a small portion of the 28.5% increase recorded the previous month.
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