Canadian manufacturing sales down in August

Canadian Manufacturing sales fell 2 percent to 52.4 billion Canadian dollars (about 39.7 billion U.S. dollars) in August, following three consecutive months of strong increases, according to Statistics Canada on Friday.

The largest declines were in the transportation equipment and plastics and rubber industries. Excluding transportation equipment, manufacturing sales climbed 1.1 percent.

Total manufacturing sales in August were 6.6 percent below the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in February.

The sales in the transportation equipment industry plunged 13.7 percent to 9.6 billion Canadian dollars in August. The decline was mostly attributable to lower sales of motor vehicle assembly which dropped 12.5 percent and motor vehicle parts which nosedived 16.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the sales of plastic and rubber products dipped 9.6 percent to 2.6 billion Canadian dollars in August.

However, the sales of wood products were up for the fourth consecutive month, rising 12.3 percent to 3 billion Canadian dollars in August on higher prices and volumes.

Year over year, sales of wood products surged 26 percent.