OTTAWA — Manufacturing sales declined slightly in August, by 2.1 to $40.9 billion, following a 5.2 percent gain in July.

The aerospace product and parts (-35.6% to $1.2 billion) and motor vehicle industries (-6.3% to $3.1 billion) were the major contributors to the decline in sales. On the latter sector, the decline in August follows a 48.8 percent gain in July.

Excluding the decline in aerospace, manufacturing sales only slipped by 0.6 percent, reports Stats Canada.

Miscellaneous manufacturing (-10.5%) and chemical manufacturing (-2.5%) also reported decreases.

Sales have been relatively level since February, after declining 20.4 percent between October 2008 and January 2009.
Sales in the petroleum and coal products industry rose 7.2 percent, driven by higher prices. 

The aerospace declines caused Quebec sales to decrease 4 percent in August. Other durable goods industries also reported declines, including computer and electronic products (-14.1%), miscellaneous manufacturing (-11.1%) and machinery manufacturing (-8.4%).

Sales in Ontario declined 3.2 percent caused, as usual, a 7.4 percent fall in the motor vehicle industry and a 58.5 percent drop in aerospace products. A 14.3 percent drop in miscellaneous manufacturing also contributed to the provincial decline.

Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick were other provinces with sales increases. Sales declined in Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Sales in British Columbia remained unchanged from July.

Meanwhile, manufacturers reported a 0.7 percent decline in inventories compared with July. Inventories have been decreasing since January 2009.

Inventories of aerospace products and parts (-6.5%), fabricated metal products (-2.3%), machinery (-2.0%) and food (-1.9%) were responsible for most of the drop in manufacturing inventories.