Canadian industries operated at 80.1% of their production capacity in the first quarter, up slightly from 79.7% in the fourth quarter of 2024, which was revised down slightly.
Increase in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector
The capacity utilization rate in the mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector increased by 0.7 percentage points in the first quarter to 76.7%. This rise coincided with an increase in activity in the oil sands and in the support activities for mining and oil and gas extraction.
The capacity utilization rate in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution sector also increased, going from 83.2% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to 86.1% in the first quarter. This increase coincided with a rise in demand for electricity for heating purposes, stemming from below-normal temperatures being recorded in certain parts of the country over the course of the first quarter.
Chart 1: Industrial capacity utilization rate in non-manufacturing industries
Description - Chart 1
Data table: Industrial capacity utilization rate in non-manufacturing industries
Source: Table 16-10-0109-01.
Slight decrease in capacity utilization in the manufacturing sector
The seasonally adjusted capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing sector slightly decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 77.9% in the first quarter. This decline can mainly be attributed to petroleum and coal product manufacturing (-6.9 percentage points) and fabricated metal product manufacturing (-3.1 percentage points).
Chart 2: Variation by industry, in percentage points, first quarter of 2025 compared with fourth quarter of 2024
Description - Chart 2
Data table: Variation by industry, in percentage points, first quarter of 2025 compared with fourth quarter of 2024
Source: Table 16-10-0109-01.
Note to readers
The industrial capacity utilization rate is the ratio of an industry's actual output to its estimated potential output.
This program covers all manufacturing industries, as well as forestry and logging; mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction; electric power generation, transmission and distribution; and construction.
For non-manufacturing industries, the quarterly pattern is derived from the output-to-capital ratio series, the output being the real gross domestic product at basic prices, seasonally adjusted, by industry.
In this release, the industrial capacity utilization rates from the Monthly Survey of Manufacturing were seasonally adjusted using X-12-ARIMA (auto-regressive integrated moving average) from the first quarter of 2017. In addition, they were updated starting from the first quarter of 2022 to align with the source data.
Data have been revised back to the first quarter of 2022 to account for revisions to the source data and new estimates from the statistical model.
Reference
Data table: 16-10-0109-01.
- Note: some data tables may best be viewed on desktop.
Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 2821.
Previous release: Industrial capacity utilization rates, fourth quarter 2024.
Next release: September 12, 2025.
Contact information
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