Canadian industrial production up in 2nd quarter of 2012
September 13, 2012
By Manufacturing AUTOMATION
Canadian industries operated at 81.0 per cent of their production capacity in the second quarter, with the manufacturing sector making as much of a contribution as non-manufacturing, Statistics Canada says.
The boost, up 0.5 percentage points from the previous quarter, means production capacity is at its highest level since 2007.
The advance in the second quarter follows gains of 0.3 percentage points in the fourth quarter of 2011 and 0.2 percentage points in the first quarter of 2012.
As in the three previous quarters, the strength of the transportation equipment and machinery industries contributed significantly to the growth in capacity utilization of manufacturing industries as a whole in the second quarter.
The largest contributors to the increase in the capacity utilization rate were the transportation equipment, machinery, wood product manufacturing and non-metallic mineral product manufacturing industries.
Capacity use was down in 10 industries, notably the computer and electronic product manufacturing industry and in the food industry.
Higher production of motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts as well as of aerospace products and their parts raised the capacity utilization rate in the transportation equipment industry by 1.9 percentage points to 91.7 per cent.
Increased output of agricultural, construction and mining machinery and, to a lesser extent, of metalworking machinery helped push the capacity utilization rate in the machinery manufacturing industry up to 89.1 per cent.
In the wood product manufacturing industry, capacity utilization rose from 76.1 per cent in the first quarter to 77.9 per cent in the second quarter. As in the previous quarter, the increase was mainly a result of higher production in the sawmills and wood preservation industry.
The non-metallic mineral product manufacturing industry operated at 81.3 per cent of its capacity, up 3.3 percentage points. Higher production of cement and concrete products was largely responsible for the increase.
The computer and electronic product manufacturing industry ran at 85.1 per cent of its capacity, down 2.6 percentage points. The main reason for the decline was lower production of communications equipment.
