Industry capacity slightly climbs in Q4, but 2% jump overall from 2003
OTTAWA, (Mar. 10, 2005) — Canadian industries only slightly increased their production capacity at the end of last year due to weak exports, according to Statistics Canada.
Industries operated at 86 percent of their capacity compared with 85.7 percent in the third quarter,” the agency said. “The drop in international demand had an especially strong impact on the manufacturing sector, where capacity utilization stalled.
However, while there was a marginal slowdown in the growth of capacity utilization in the fourth quarter, the annual average rate increased from 83 to 85 percent in 2004 compared to the year before.
The agency said the higher 2004 rate was largely attributable to manufacturers benefiting from robust international demand in the first half of the year.
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