The inventory to sales ratio for Canadian manufacturers rose slightly from 1.69 in February to 1.73 in March. PHOTO courtesy Denios.
Following three consecutive monthly declines, total Canadian manufacturing inventories were largely unchanged at $121.0Â billion in March, Statistics Canada reports.
Higher inventories of goods in process (+2.3%) were completely offset by lower raw materials (-0.7%) and finished products (-0.7%). Inventories of aerospace products and parts (+3.6%) marked the largest increase. Total inventories were down 2.2% compared with March 2023.
The inventory-to-sales ratio rose from 1.69 in February to 1.73 in March. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Following three consecutive monthly increases, unfilled orders declined 0.8% to $104.8 billion in March. Lower unfilled orders for railroad rolling stock manufacturing contributed the most to the decline.
