Statistics Canada’s Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for July 2022 reports that manufacturing sales fell 0.9 percent to $71.6 billion in the month – the third consecutive monthly decline. The decline comes on lower sales in 12 of 21 industries, led by the primary metal (-9.9 percent), petroleum and coal product (-5.3 percent), and furniture and related products (-11.2 percent) industries. Meanwhile, sales of food (+2.5 percent), motor vehicle parts (+10.7 percent), and paper products (+8.1 percent) industries increased the most.
In July, manufacturing inventories were up 1.2 percent to $118.1 billion, while the inventory-to-sales ratio was up 0.04 points to 1.65 and unfilled orders held steady at $106.3 billion.
Manufacturing sales in constant dollars increased 0.6 percent in July, the second consecutive monthly increase, while the Industrial Product Price Index declined 2.1 percent for the month.
The 9.9 percent decline in the primary metal industry was the largest decline on record, decreasing to $5.6 billion in July on lower prices and volumes sold (-5.1 percent). Sales declined in all the primary metal industries in July, led by the non-ferrous metal (except aluminum) (-28.4 percent) and alumina and aluminum production and processing (-19.3 percent) industries. Unplanned interruptions at some major primary metal manufacturers were partly responsible for the decline in July. In addition, primary non-ferrous metal prices fell 8.9 percent, while the prices for unwrought aluminum and aluminum alloys declined 5.8 percent in July.
Demand for many primary metals was also affected by concerns over a possible slowdown in the global economy along with the rising of interest rates across many advanced countries. Despite the month-over-month decline, primary metal sales were up 4.7 percent on a year-over-year basis in July.
Other industries that contributed to the decline in July were the fabricated metal (-2.8 percent), chemical (-1.8 percent) and other transportation equipment product (-31.5 percent) industries.
