Manufacturing sales slip in May: StatsCan

Manufacturing sales declined 0.8 percent, or $360 million, to $46 billion in May, according to Statistics Canada’s Monthly Survey of Manufacturing for May 2011.

The agency said sales have remained relatively flat since January 2011.

Constant-dollar manufacturing sales also declined 0.8 percent in May. According to Statistics Canada, the overall decrease in current dollar sales reflected a 2.4 percent decline on the non-durable goods side of manufacturing. The declines were mostly concentrated in the food, petroleum and coal product and chemical industries. In contrast, the durable goods industries rose 0.8 percent in May.

Lower sales were reported in 11 of 21 industries, representing 71.9 percent of total manufacturing.

In May, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and British Columbia had the largest declines in manufacturing sales, falling 40.4 percent to $299 million, 2.9 percent to $5.7 billion, and 3.9 percent to $3.1 billion, respectively.

Meanwhile, sales in Saskatchewan rose 8.6 percent in May to $1.1 billion, and sales in Ontario advanced 0.4 percent to $20.6 billion.

www.statscan.gc.ca