Mfg sales drop 1.7% in January 2015

Mar. 17, 2015 – A sharp drop in petroleum and coal products caused Canadian manufacturing sales to fall 1.7 per cent in January, says Statistics Canada. Lower sales of machinery, chemicals and primary metals also contributed to the decline.

The result compared with what economists had expected would be a drop of 1.2 per cent.

Sales in the petroleum and coal product industry fell 11.9 per cent in January, the seventh consecutive monthly decline.

Excluding petroleum and coal products, manufacturing sales fell 0.5 per cent.

According to StatsCan, sales decreased in eight provinces, with Ontario and Alberta posting the largest declines. A 3.2-per-cent increase in Quebec partially offset the declines, led by a rise in the production of aerospace products and parts drove the provincial gain.

— With files from The Canadian Press