Canada: Manufacturing sales rose 1.1% to a record high $54.4 billion in April

Manufacturing sales rose 1.1% to a record high $54.4 billion in April, mainly due to higher sales in the petroleum and coal product, and primary metal industries, reported the Statistics Canada on Thursday.

Key highlights:

• Sales were up in 13 of the 21 industries, representing 62% of Canadian manufacturing sales.
• Once the effects of price changes are taken into consideration, manufacturing sales volumes rose 0.5% in April.
• Sales in the petroleum and coal products industry rose 8.9% to $5.4 billion in April, following two months of declines.
• Sales in the primary metal industry rose 3.8% to $4.2 billion, the third increase in four months.
• In contrast, sales in the transportation equipment industry decreased 1.3% to $11.0 billion. The decline was mainly attributable to the motor vehicle (-3.7%) and motor vehicle parts (-2.1%) industries.