As the horrible year 2020 ground to an end, Canada’s manufacturing sector grew 1.7 per cent in November, largely as a result of higher inventory, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada.
Both durable and non-durable manufacturing were up. This was the sixth increase in seven months—after a 0.5 per cent contraction in October—bringing the sector’s output to within 3 per cent of its pre-pandemic activity.
Durable manufacturing rose 2 per cent, led by fabricated metal products with 7.1 per cent growth. Machinery manufacturing (+3.8 per cent) and non-metallic mineral product manufacturing (+5.6 per cent) also posted growth. Transportation equipment, down for the second consecutive month, decreased 1.3 per cent.
Non-durable manufacturing was up 1.3 per cent in November as all subsectors—with the exception of chemical manufacturing (-0.8 per cent)—saw increases. The industries contributing most to this growth were plastics and rubber products (+4.1 per cent), petroleum and coal product (+3 per cent), paper (+3 per cent) and beverage and tobacco (+2.7 per cent) manufacturing.
