Canada's April Manufacturing Sales Rise as Expected as Unfilled Orders Reach New Record, Inventories Edge Higher
Total manufacturing sales rose 4.2% month over month to $77.1 billion in April, following a 3.4% increase in March, said Statistics Canada on Monday.April's manufacturing sales were close to the 4.5% month-over-month consensus rise provided by Scotiabank.Sales rose in 17 of the 21 subsectors, led by the oil and coal product (+22.6%) and food (+2.9%) subsectors, noted Canada's statistical agency in a statement. Sales of primary metals (-4.6%) declined the most. Total manufacturing sales excluding oil and coal products were up 1.4% on a month-over-month basis in April, while they increased 10.6% on a year-over-year basis.In constant dollars, total manufacturing sales rose 1.8% month over month in April, while the Industrial Product Price Index (IPPI) increased 2.0%.Unfilled orders reached another record high in April, rising 1.3% month over month to $123.2 billion, added StatsCan. The increase was driven mainly by higher unfilled orders in the transportation equipment (+1.1%) and primary metal (+15.3%) subsectors.Total inventories rose 0.5% month over month to $125.0 billion in April, with increases in 13 of the 21 subsectors, led by the machinery (+2.2%), oil and coal products (+2.7%), and transportation equipment (+0.8%) subsectors. The overall gain was driven by higher inventories of goods in process (+1.4%) and finished products (+0.7%), while raw material inventories edged down 0.1% in April.The inventory-to-sales ratio declined from 1.68 in March to 1.62 in April, the lowest since January 2023. This ratio measures the time, in months, that would be required to exhaust inventories if sales were to remain at their current level.