Manufacturing sales are up 29.5% year-over-year in Alberta, which led sales growth among Canada's provinces in October. PHOTO courtesy Group Six.
In October, manufacturing sales rose in seven provinces, led by Alberta, Quebec and Ontario. The increases were partly offset by lower sales in British Columbia, Statistics Canada reports.
In Alberta, sales rose 7.3% to a record high of $9.5 billion in October, after four consecutive monthly declines. The growth was led by petroleum and coal products (+13.7%), which experienced the second largest (in dollar terms) monthly increase in the province, as well as the chemical product industry (+14.9%) which recorded the largest increase. Year over year, total sales in the province were up 29.5%.
In Quebec, sales rose 3.3% to $18.2 billion in October, mostly on higher sales in the petroleum and coal product (+19.9%) and paper product (+10.5%) industries, while sales in wood products (-4.0%) saw the largest decline. Year over year, total sales in the province increased 16.2%.
Following a 1.0% decline in September, sales in Ontario increased 1.7% to $31.1 billion in October, primarily on higher sales of petroleum and coal product (+11.9%) and miscellaneous manufacturing (+15.7%), namely in the jewelry and silverware industry as there were significant increases in the exports of gold coin and precious metal to the United States. The gains in total sales were primarily offset by lower sales in the motor vehicle industry (-3.4%). Compared with the same month last year, total sales in the province rose 12.9%.
In British Columbia, sales were down 1.2% to $5.7 billion in October, primarily on lower sales of durable goods (-4.7%) led by the primary metal industry (-18.8%), while sales of non-durable products increased (+2.9%). Despite the monthly decline, total sales in the province increased 9.8% year over year.
Québec recorded the highest sales
Sales increased in 8 of 15 selected census metropolitan areas in October, led by Québec (+14.6%) and Edmonton (+4.5%), while Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo (-11.9%) saw the largest decline.
After four consecutive monthly declines, sales in Québec rose 14.6% to $2.4 billion in October, almost entirely driven by higher sales in the petroleum and coal industry and partly offset by lower sales in the beverage and tobacco industry.
Sales in Edmonton rose 4.5% to $4.7 billion in October, following three consecutive monthly declines, led by the petroleum and coal product industry (+5.9%). Year over year, total sales increased 51.0%.
Sales in Kitchener–Cambridge–Waterloo declined 11.9% to $2.1 billion in October, largely attributable to lower sales of motor vehicles, following two consecutive months of growth. Despite the monthly decline, total sales increased 10.0% on a year-over-year basis.
