CANADA DATA IMPACT: Factory Sales -0.6%, Inventories Pile Up>

By Greg Quinn

     OTTAWA (MNI) - Canadian manufacturing sales posted a 

surprise decline in April and a measure of inventories reached 

the highest since the country's last recession in 2009. 

     Sales fell 0.6% versus the MNI economist consensus for a 

0.5% increase. That decline masked a revision in the March 

sales increase to 2.6% from 2.1%. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, 

sales rose 0.5%.

     The bigger weakness than the headline sales figure came from 

inventories, which the Bank of Canada is tracking to determine the 

strength of an economic recovery in the second quarter. The ratio of 

inventories to sales rose to 1.53 in April from 1.50 in March, as sales 

fell and inventories advanced for a fifth consecutive month. 

     Transportation equipment was the main source of weakness in April. 

Motor vehicle sales dropped 8.9% on temporary shutdowns and reduced 

assembly volumes.

     Other parts of the report also suggested some weakness after the 

big March increase in sales. Unfilled orders fell 0.3% in April and new 

orders declined 1.4%, Statistics Canada said Tuesday from Ottawa.

     Sales volumes declined 0.8% in April. 

     On the plus side, petroleum and coal sales rose 2.9% in April, the 

fourth consecutive increase. Prices and production volumes have been 

rising this year after setbacks in 2018. 

     From a year earlier, manufacturing sales rose 3.1% in April.

     --MNI Ottawa Bureau; tel: +1 613-314-9647; email: 

greg.quinn@marketnews.com

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