(Ottawa) Manufacturing sector sales rose 1.6% to $71.9 billion in July, boosted by higher sales of food, petroleum and coal products and transportation equipment, said Friday Statistics Canada.
This increase followed a decrease of 2.0% for the month of June, the federal agency said.
Food sales rose 3.1% to $12.4 billion in July, as the grain and oilseed milling group gained 25.5%, partly due to a recovery of the activities of certain grinding plants after their closure for maintenance in June, explained Statistics Canada.
Meanwhile, rising prices helped sales of petroleum and coal products rise 4.6% to 7.5 billion in July, while those of motor vehicles rose 3.5% to 5 .8 billion — their highest level since May 2017. Sales of automotive parts increased 3.5% to 3.3 billion.
Sales of paper products fell 4.6% to $2.6 billion as more than half of B.C.’s paper product manufacturers were affected by the strike at the province’s ports in July.
Expressed in constant dollars, overall manufacturing sector sales increased 0.9% in July.