According to Statistics Canada, manufacturing sales rose 0.4 percent to $72.8 billion in September, on higher sales in 10 of 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal product (+6.3 percent), wood (+2.9 percent), and machinery (+1.3 percent) subsectors. The gains were partially offset by lower sales of chemicals (-1.8 percent) and motor vehicle parts (-2.6 percent). On a quarterly basis, total sales rose 1.3 percent in the third quarter of 2023, mainly on higher sales of petroleum and coal (+8.5 percent) and food (+3.6 percent) products. On a year-over-year basis, sales increased 3.3 percent in September.
Total inventories increased 1.5 percent to $123.4 billion in September, on higher goods in process (+2.4 percent), raw material (+1.1 percent) and finished product (+1.3 percent) inventories. Widespread gains were observed across 12 of 21 subsectors, led by the petroleum and coal (+4.0 percent), primary metal (+2.8 percent), and beverage and tobacco (+9.0 percent) subsectors. Inventories of plastic and rubber products decreased the most, down 2.9 percent to $4.3 million in September.
The inventory-to-sales ratio rose from 1.68 in August to 1.70 in September. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.
Unfilled orders fell 1.2 percent to $101.9 billion in September, primarily on a 1.6 percent decline in unfilled orders in the aerospace product and parts industry.
The capacity utilization rate (not seasonally adjusted) for the total manufacturing sector decreased from 80.2 percent in August to 78.9 percent in September, on lower production. The declines in the capacity utilization rates were more pronounced in the petroleum and coal (-5.5 percentage points), transportation equipment (-2.6 percentage points) and chemical (-3.2 percentage points) subsectors. The capacity utilization rate of primary metal manufacturing increased 1.7 percentage points in September.