Manufacturing Sales on Steady Incline

(Canadian MetalWorking)

Sales rise in eight of past ten months pointing to stronger rebound

While the numbers are still weak, manufacturing sales are continuing in a slow, upward trend with sales rising in eight of the past ten months, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada. Manufacturing sales advanced 0.2% in April to $44.5 billion. Sales increased in primary metal and petroleum and coal product manufacturers although the numbers were offset by a surprising decline in the food industry.

Al Diggins, president and general manager of Excellence in Manufacturing Consortium (EMC), which represents more than 900 manufacturers across Ontario and Eastern Canada, says the numbers don’t lie. His members are indeed experiencing growth. “The recession took a lot of good manufacturers out but I’ve been talking to a lot of our members and what we’ve seen is that during the recession these manufacturers were cautiously optimistic but I think they’ve moved from that to optimistic.” Read more here.