June Canadian Manufacturing Sales Up 2.1% Beating Expectations
Change in Inventories: 0.6%
Change in Inventories ex-petroleum: 0.3%
Change in Inventories ex-auto: 0.9%
Change in Sales: 2.1%
Inventories to Sales Ratio: 1.27
Canadian Manufacturing Inventories in June rose 0.6% increasing at half the previous months pace, with petroleum and coal products accounting for half the increase on price. In constant dollars, Manufacturing inventories dropped 0.1%. Meanwhile in spite of declining prices for primary metal, manufacturers reported an increase of 2.6% to C$7.3 bln in inventory levels for the 4th consecutive increase, still below the 2006 record of C$8bln.
Excluding Petroleum Canadian June inventories rose 0.3%.
June Manufacturing Sales were up 2.1% to 52.5bln, mostly on price, vs. the revised 2.2% increase prior (previously reported 2.7%) beating the consenus estimate of a 1% gain. Increases were broadbased with 14 of 21 industries representing 81% of sales reporting gains. The largest gain came from Petroleum and Coal manufacturers who reported a 6.4% increase in tandem with the 6.2% jump in prices for the month of June. Primary Metals also contributed to the increase with a 6.1% gain in June a significant volume increase on strong international demand. Meanwhile, Auto-manfacturers posted a 4.2% gain reaching C$4.2bln in sales, the fourth increase in 6 months but below the 2007 monthly average of C$5bln. All provinces but one reported increases with B.C. reporting a 2.1% drop from the previous month. In constant dollars the increase in Sales was only 0.6%.
The Inventories to Sales Ratio was 1.27 down from 1.29 previous and the 3rd consecutive decline bringing the ratio to its lowest level since April 2007.