Canadian manufacturing sales fell 1.0% in January, dragged down by weakness in motor vehicles, aerospace product and parts, and primary metal industries.
Manufacturing sales dropped to C$54.92 billion in January from C$55.49 billion in December 2017, but were up 2.9% from a year earlier, Statistics Canada said.
Motor vehicles sales declined 8.0%, reflecting lower production due to atypical assembly plant shutdowns. Production in the aerospace product and parts industry fell 9.5% partly because of appreciation in the value of Canadian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar. Sales in the primary metal industry decreased 2.8%.
Sales declined in 14 out of 21 industries, with better results in the petroleum and coal product and chemical industries partially offsetting the declines.
Inventories reached their highest level since 1992, rising 0.9% to C$76.14 billion in January from C$75.47 billion in the previous month. The inventories-to-sales ratio climbed to 1.39 from 1.36 in the prior month.
New orders edged up 0.1%, while unfilled orders increased 0.6% from the previous month.
