OTTAWA, May 14 (Reuters) – Canadian factory sales fell by 9.2% in March from February as many businesses shut down as part of efforts to fight the coronavirus, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.
The measures triggered lower sales in transportation equipment, as well as the petroleum and coal product industries, Excluding vehicles and parts, manufacturing sales were down 5.5%. Month/month change (%)
Mar Feb(rev) Feb (prev) Sales -9.2 +0.4 +0.5 Sales ex-autos -5.5 -0.9 -0.7 Inventories +0.1 -1.0 -1.0 Unfilled orders -0.4 +1.0 0.0 New orders -11.3 +3.0 -0.5
Mar Feb(rev) Feb(prev) Inv/sales ratio 1.72 1.56 1.55 NOTE: Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast a 5.7% decrease in the value of shipments in February from January. All figures are seasonally adjusted. (Reporting by Dale Smith, editing by David Ljunggren)
