Capacity utlization fell in most Canadian manufacturing industries in October and was particularly pronounced in the primary metals industry. PHOTO courtesy Valibruna.
The capacity utilization rate for the Canadian manufacturing sector was down slightly in October, decreasing in 13 of the 21 industries tracked by Statistics Canada.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) fell to 77.2% in October, compared to 77.6% in September. The decreases were partially offset by a higher capacity utilization rate in the petroleum and coal product (+3.3 percentage points) and chemical (+1.6 percentage points) industries.
Capacity utilization for October in fabricated metal manufacturing dropped 1% to 76.6% from 77.7% the previous month. However, that’s still 3.3% better than the same time last year.
In other industries of relevance to metalworking, there was a notable 5% decrease in capacity utilization for October in the primary metal manufacturing industry compared to the previous month and an -8.2% drop compared to October a year ago. Capacity utilization in primary metal manufacturing sits at 69.6%.
Machinery manufacturing capacity utilization fell 0.9% in October to 79.0% from 79.9% the previous month. That’s still 2.3% better than October of last year. Similarly, capacity utilization in transportation equipment manufacturing was down 1.4% in October, falling to 71.5% compared to 72.9% the previous month. However, that’s still 6.1% better than the capacity utilization rate posted in October of 2021.
Furniture and related product manufacturing was down 2.9% in October to 81.0% from 83.9% the previous month. That was -1.2% decline compared to the previous year.
