Manufacturing sales increased in June, driven in larger part of automotive production, according to recent data from Statistics Canada. Sales in June were $59.2 billion, rising 2.1 per cent from the previous month.
Higher sales in petroleum and coal products also contributed to the increase. Sales of motor vehicles grew 25.6 per cent with assembly plants able to meet the increase in production, although Stats Can reports that this increase happened despite the semi-conductor chip supply shortage affecting automotive production in the country.
TD Bank economist Omar Abdelrahman said Canada’s manufacturing sales showed some signs of life in June after an unusually weak May report, according a report in The Canadian Press.
“Recent reports from auto manufacturers suggest that we aren’t out of the woods yet, with some citing that shortages may continue to cloud the outlook into next year.”
In constant dollars, manufacturing sales rose 2.2 per cent to $49.1 billion in June, indicating a higher volume of goods sold.
The data came as Statistics Canada also reported wholesale sales fell 0.8 per cent in June to $71.5 billion as sales for the building material and supplies subsector as well as machinery, equipment and supplies subsector fell. Stats Canada reports that wholesale sales of building materials and supplies fell 5.4 per cent in June due to a drop in the sales of lumber and other building supplies, while machinery, equipment and supply sales dropped 3.5 per cent. Wholesale volumes fell 1.4 per cent in June.
