Industrial Capacity Utilization Rates, First Quarter 2008

(Statistics Canada)

Canadian industries significantly reduced their use of production capacity in the first quarter, pushing the rate to its lowest level in 15 years. Most of the sectors that make up the industrial group, particularly the automotive sector, contributed to the decline. Only the oil and gas extraction sector posted an increase in capacity utilization.

In the first quarter, industries operated at 79.8% of their capacity compared with 81.8% in the fourth quarter of 2007. The current rate is 7.3 points below the peak of 87.1% reached in the fourth quarter of 2000.

The industrial capacity utilization rate is the ratio of an industry's actual output to its estimated potential output. For this release, the rates have been revised back to the first quarter of 2006 to reflect the revised source data.

Significant reduction in the rate for the manufacturing sector

In the manufacturing sector, every major group except for leather products posted a reduction in capacity use. The rate fell from 80.3% to 77.2% in the first quarter and, for the first time since 2001, fell below the 80% mark. The biggest contributors to the rate's decline were the transportation equipment industries; wood products; plastics and rubber products; and non-metallic mineral products manufacturing industries. Summary statistics and a link to the data table at the Statistics Canada website.