Transportation equipment manufacturing sales decline, offsetting other manufacturing growth
Canadian small business owners in the manufacturing sector may be encouraged to know that manufacturing sales continued to trend upward for yet another month, as sales rose by 0.1 percent to $42.6 billion in November, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
This growth, which represents the fifth increase in manufacturing sales in the past six months, was led by the non-durable goods industries, which posted a sales increase of 1 percent compared to October.
Sales by chemical manufacturers in particular rose by 5.3 percent in November, one-third of which was due to growth in pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing sales.
However, sales in the transportation equipment industry offset much of November's sales growth, as it declined by 4.3 percent.
Sales of manufacturing and wholesalebusiness products grew in just half of the nation's provinces, led by New Brunswick with an increase of 15.2 percent. Sales also increased in Alberta and Quebec, while Newfoundland, Labrador and Manitoba posted declines.
Statistics Canada also reported Wednesday that consumer prices rose by 1.3 percent in the 12 months leading up to December, representing the largest increase since February 2009. The high inflation rate was largely due to gasoline prices.
