By Glenn Johnson
OTTAWA–Canadian manufacturing shipments fell for the fourth consecutive month in August, mainly on lower sales of petroleum and coal, chemical and primary metal product industries.
Canadian factory sales declined 2% in August from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted 70.4 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of $51.17 billion, Statistics Canada said Friday.
Market expectations were for a 1.8% decline, according to economists at TD Securities.
The previous month’s data were revised to a decline of 0.6%, from the earlier estimate of a 0.9% slide in July.
On a price-adjusted, or volume, basis, Canadian manufacturing sales in August fell 1.7% on a month-over-month basis.
Inventories held by factories climbed 1.3% from July to C$119.9 billion.
Unfilled orders, or the stock of orders that will contribute to future sales assuming they aren’t canceled, increased 1.5% to C$107.5 billion. New orders rose 0.6% to C$72 billion.
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