Statistics Canada
Symbol of the Government of Canada

Monthly Survey of Manufacturing

Warning View the most recent version.

Archived Content

Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please "contact us" to request a format other than those available.

June 2009 (Previous release)

Manufacturing sales increased 1.9% to $39.7 billion in June, partially reversing the 4.9% decline posted in May. Strong sales in the aerospace industry and a rise in the price of petroleum and coal products largely explain the increase. Excluding both industries, Canada's manufacturing sales would have decreased 0.5%.

Manufacturing sales increase in June

Constant dollar manufacturing sales rose 1.1% in June, indicating that greater sales volumes were responsible for more than half of the increase in sales.

Note to readers

All data in this release are seasonally adjusted and are expressed in current dollars unless otherwise specified.

Preliminary data are provided for the current reference month. Revised data, based on late responses, are updated for the three previous months.

Non-durable goods industries include food, beverage and tobacco products, textile mills, textile product mills, clothing, leather and allied products, paper, printing and related support activities, petroleum and coal products, chemicals, and plastics and rubber products.

Durable goods industries include wood products, non-metallic mineral products, primary metals, fabricated metal products, machinery, computer and electronic products, electrical equipment, appliances and components, transportation equipment, furniture and related products and miscellaneous manufacturing.

Production-based industries

For the aerospace industry and shipbuilding industries, the value of production is used instead of sales of goods manufactured. This value is calculated by adjusting monthly sales of goods manufactured by the monthly change in inventories of goods in process and finished products manufactured.

Unfilled orders are a stock of orders that will contribute to future sales assuming that the orders are not cancelled.

New orders are those received whether sold in the current month or not. New orders are measured as the sum of sales for the current month plus the change in unfilled orders from the previous month to the current month.

Sales were up in 12 of 21 manufacturing industries in June, representing 68% of total sales.

Strength in the aerospace and petroleum industries partially offset by lower sales for motor vehicles

Production in the aerospace industry increased 61.0% to $1.6 billion, partially reversing a 44.5% decline in May. The aerospace industry has been extremely volatile over the past several months. Excluding the aerospace industry, total Canadian manufacturing sales increased 0.4%.

Sales in the petroleum and coal products industry rose 6.9%, reflecting higher prices for petroleum products. In addition, several refineries increased production in June.

Non-metallic mineral products (+5.6%), furniture and related products (+4.9%), wood products (+3.5%) and food (+1.4%) were other industries reporting sales increases in June.

The motor vehicle manufacturing industry was the main offsetting industry in June. Sales decreased 6.0%, following a 20.8% drop in May. The recent weakness reflected several plant shutdowns. In contrast, motor vehicle parts manufacturing edged down 0.1% in June.

Provincial manufacturing sales results are mixed

Among the Atlantic provinces, sales rose significantly in Newfoundland and Labrador (+58.0%) and New Brunswick (+7.2%), while Prince Edward Island (-13.2%) and Nova Scotia (-2.8%) saw sales decline.

In Quebec, sales increased 5.7% in June, partially reversing an 8.6% drop in May. The provincial advance was largely driven by aerospace production, which increased by 82.5% to $1.1 billion. Non-metallic mineral products (+8.5%), fabricated metal products (+4.4%), food (+2.1%) and petroleum and coal products (+2.0%) were other industries contributing to the sales increase in Quebec.

Sales in Ontario edged down 0.3% in June, largely the result of a 7.3% decline in motor vehicle manufacturing in the province. The primary metals industry (-5.9%) also contributed to the weakness in Ontario. A 2.6% gain in the food industry only partially offset the declines in motor vehicle manufacturing and the primary metals industry.

Inventories edge lower

Manufacturers reported a 0.1% decline in inventories compared to May, with levels falling to $62.7 billion. This was the fifth consecutive monthly decline.

Inventories edge lower

Fabricated metal products manufacturers (-3.1%) and the primary metals industry (-2.0%) posted two of the larger declines in value terms. However, a 14.0% advance in the value of inventories in the petroleum and coal products industry, stemming from both price and volume increases, largely offset the declines in other industries.

The slight decrease in inventories and the increase in overall manufacturing sales caused the inventory-to-sales ratio to drop to 1.58 from 1.61. The inventory-to-sales ratio remains well above values seen in 2007 and 2008.

The inventory-to-sales ratio drops in June

Unfilled orders increase in June

The backlog of unfilled orders rose 2.0% in June to $60.0 billion, partially offsetting the 7.0% decline in May.

In June, the aerospace products and parts industry reported a 3.0% increase in the value of unfilled orders. Excluding aerospace products and parts, unfilled orders increased 0.9%.

New orders increased 18.4% in June to $40.8 billion.

Unfilled orders increases

Available on CANSIM: tables 304-0014, 304-0015 and 377-0008.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2101.

Data from the July Monthly Survey of Manufacturing will be released on September 16.

For more information, or to order data, contact the dissemination officer (toll-free 1-866-873-8789; 613-951-9497; fax: 613-951-3877; manufact@statcan.gc.ca). To enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Gwen Harding (613-951-1179, gwen.harding@statcan.gc.ca), Manufacturing and Energy Division.

Table 1

Manufacturing sales, provinces and territories
  May 2009r June 2009p May to June 2009
  Seasonally adjusted
  $ millions % change1
Canada 38,921 39,654 1.9
Newfoundland and Labrador 256 404 58.0
Prince Edward Island 115 100 -13.2
Nova Scotia 766 745 -2.8
New Brunswick 1,169 1,254 7.2
Quebec 9,908 10,473 5.7
Ontario 17,401 17,341 -0.3
Manitoba 1,249 1,230 -1.5
Saskatchewan 942 925 -1.8
Alberta 4,451 4,466 0.3
British Columbia 2,661 2,714 2.0
Yukon 2 2 -3.0
Northwest Territories and Nunavut 1 1 -0.6
revised
preliminary
Percent change calculated at thousands of dollars.

Table 2

Sales, inventories and orders in all manufacturing industries
  Sales Inventories Unfilled orders New orders Inventory-to-sales ratio
  Seasonally adjusted
  $ millions % change $ millions % change $ millions % change $ millions % change  
June 2008 52,646 2.2 67,046 1.0 63,903 1.6 53,683 1.2 1.27
July 2008 53,998 2.6 67,243 0.3 64,564 1.0 54,660 1.8 1.25
August 2008 51,873 -3.9 67,682 0.7 66,493 3.0 53,802 -1.6 1.30
September 2008 51,495 -0.7 67,433 -0.4 65,965 -0.8 51,040 -5.1 1.31
October 2008 51,114 -0.7 68,330 1.3 70,438 6.8 55,597 8.9 1.34
November 2008 47,991 -6.1 67,704 -0.9 71,033 0.8 48,668 -12.5 1.41
December 2008 44,298 -7.7 66,482 -1.8 69,425 -2.3 42,709 -12.2 1.50
January 2009 41,575 -6.1 67,195 1.1 66,627 -4.0 38,777 -9.2 1.62
February 2009 42,293 1.7 66,462 -1.1 66,424 -0.3 42,089 8.5 1.57
March 2009 41,060 -2.9 64,875 -2.4 67,248 1.2 41,885 -0.5 1.58
April 2009 40,929 -0.3 64,098 -1.2 63,238 -6.0 36,919 -11.9 1.57
May 2009 38,921 -4.9 62,776 -2.1 58,793 -7.0 34,476 -6.6 1.61
June 2009 39,654 1.9 62,696 -0.1 59,955 2.0 40,816 18.4 1.58

Table 3

Manufacturing industries except motor vehicle, parts and accessories
  Sales Inventories Unfilled orders New orders
  Seasonally adjusted
  $ millions % change $ millions % change $ millions % change $ millions % change
June 2008 46,579 2.1 64,529 1.2 62,769 1.6 47,586 1.1
July 2008 47,763 2.5 64,644 0.2 63,459 1.1 48,453 1.8
August 2008 46,100 -3.5 65,190 0.8 65,468 3.2 48,109 -0.7
September 2008 45,806 -0.6 65,077 -0.2 65,062 -0.6 45,474 -5.5
October 2008 45,662 -0.3 65,821 1.1 69,775 7.2 50,384 10.8
November 2008 42,496 -6.9 65,216 -0.9 70,389 0.9 43,192 -14.3
December 2008 39,558 -6.9 64,219 -1.5 68,873 -2.2 38,063 -11.9
January 2009 38,816 -1.9 64,562 0.5 66,150 -4.0 36,094 -5.2
February 2009 38,529 -0.7 64,106 -0.7 65,949 -0.3 38,328 6.2
March 2009 37,101 -3.7 62,496 -2.5 66,884 1.4 38,035 -0.8
April 2009 36,571 -1.4 61,811 -1.1 62,918 -5.9 32,606 -14.3
May 2009 35,461 -3.0 60,493 -2.1 58,548 -6.9 31,091 -4.6
June 2009 36,335 2.5 60,529 0.1 59,757 2.1 37,543 20.8