According to Statistics Canada, Canadian industries operated at 78.7 percent of their production capacity in the fourth quarter, down slightly from 78.8 percent in the third quarter.
The capacity utilization rate in the manufacturing sector fell 0.7 percentage points to 76.9 percent in the fourth quarter. This decline was mainly due to a slowdown in petroleum and coal product manufacturing (-4.7 percentage points) and chemical manufacturing (-2.6 percentage points).
Capacity utilization in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector continued its upward trend, with the rate rising 1.3 percentage points to 76.3 percent in the fourth quarter. This increase coincided with a rebound in oil sands extraction.
Conversely, the capacity utilization rate in construction fell 0.7 percentage points to 82.7 percent in the fourth quarter. Lower activity in engineering more than offset the increase in residential and non-residential building construction.