According to Statistics Canada, following a 1.5 percent increase in November, manufacturing sales fell 0.7 percent to $71.2 billion in December, mainly attributable to the motor vehicle industry group (-13.5 percent) as well as the chemical product subsector (-3.1 percent). Production of aerospace products and parts marked the largest increase, rising 10.6 percent to $2.5 billion in December.
On a quarterly basis, sales declined 1.6 percent to $213.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, following a 1.3 percent increase in the third quarter. The transportation equipment (-5.3 percent) and food (-1.3 percent) subsectors contributed the most to the decrease.
Total inventories fell 0.6 percent to $123.1 billion in December, on lower goods in process (-3.0 percent) and finished product (-0.9 percent) inventories. Inventories declined the most in the transportation equipment (-3.3 percent), petroleum and coal (-5.5 percent) and food (-3.1 percent) subsectors.
The inventory-to-sales ratio was unchanged at 1.73 in December. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector decreased from 79.1 percent in November to 75.3 percent in December. The declines were more noticeable in the transportation equipment (-7.0 percentage points) and food (-5.3 percentage points) subsectors. The capacity utilization rate of petroleum and coal manufacturing increased 6.7 percentage points in December.