With unfilled orders on the rise, capacity utilization may continue to inrease for Canadian manufacturing. PHOTO by Pexels
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the manufacturing sector edged up (+0.4 percentage points), from 76.6% in July to 77.0% in August, according to Statistics Canada.
Looking specifically at fabricated metal product manufacturing, capacity utilization in August up 0.5% from the previous month and up 5.2% compared to August 2021.
Capacity utilization is headed in the opposite direction however for primary metals manufacturing. Capacity utilization was down 2.4% from the previous month and down 11.1 year over year.
Capacity utilization may continue to increase overall, however, since unfilled orders are on the rise. After a 0.2% decline in July, the total value of unfilled orders rose 1.5% to $107.5 billion in August on higher unfilled orders in the transportation equipment industry (+2.8%). Total unfilled orders were up 20.8% on a year-over-year basis in August.
